Prevention of Chaos
by samuraistorm
Summary: A crossover with Saji the Dark Jester and Blood Rose. Takato lives a happy life, but when evil strikes again, he must take up his mantle once more. Things get more complicated when he finds himself in a Dark world and meets a masked prisoner.
1. Trailer

**X Prodigy and I have come to the agreement that we would make a crossover with our two characters; Blood Rose and Saji. Here's a sneak peek trailer of what you're all to expect in this crossover.**

**

* * *

**The night sky was clear and the stars were in their perfect view for Takato and Rika. The two sat on top of the roof of Rika's home as they looked up into the sky. 

"Tell me you love me." Rika requested.

"I love you so much." Takato smiled, "That will never change."

The two kiss eachother, knowing that they will never be apart.

* * *

"Maybe its time I put my mantle to rest." Takato said to himself as he held the uniform of Blood Rose. The rose that had accompanied him throughout his duties rested on top of the clothes. "There's no more evil and I'm with the woman I love. I need to make sacrifices for her."

* * *

As Takato walks through the quiet streets of Shinjuko, something creeps up from behind and pulls Takato up to the sky. 

The unknown figure begins to punch at Takato as the two come to a stop from rising and slowly descending. As the two fall, the figure pulls out a large stick with a spiked metal ball at the end and smacks Takato with it.

As he falls faster from the hit, the figure almost teleports behind him and hits him again, sending him back up to the sky.

Takato is then hit once more by the figure and sent flying to the rooftops of the house he was near. The figure comes into view with the moonlight shining. The disfigured face and the corpse-like body brought a small amount of discomfort into Takato.

"Who are you?" Takato asks.

"Havik is who I am." The monster replied, "And Chaos is what I bring to you."

* * *

"What's up with you these days?" Rika asked, "You're more busy than usual."

* * *

Takato runs over the rooftops as he tries to escape from Havik. Havik psychotically swings his weapon, smashing anything in his way.

* * *

"Life is just working against me these days." Takato replied, "But it won't be forever."

* * *

**A new evil has come...**

**

* * *

**"Tremble at my feet!" Havik roared as Takato is on his knees, bleeding from immense pain.

* * *

**And a warrior...**

**

* * *

**Takato goes into his closet, searching for something. He reaches up to the top shelves of his closet and pulls out a fairly large box.

* * *

**Will have to bring back...**

**

* * *

**Takato opens the box and pulls out several items inside.

* * *

**What he left behind.**

**

* * *

**Takato holds the red rose in his fingers, knowing it was time for Blood Rose to come back.

* * *

_"Dark portals have begun to appear in the site of chaos that was left behind." _A news reporter anounced on TV. _"Conclusions are that these are the works of the supernatural, just as it used to be a long time ago."_

"The power." Takato pulls out his rapier as he points it towards a group of muggers, "I miss it."

* * *

"I'm worried about you Takato." Rika said, "This isn't like what you faced before." 

"I'll be fine." Takato said, "I always am."

"Try not to be too confident." Rika said, "I don't want to lose you."

* * *

"You plan to defeat me just as you defeated my Demon Brothers?" Havik asked, "Well, prepare for a great misfortune." 

Havik and Blood Rose engage in a duel with Havik and his Morning Star weapon against Blood Rose and his rapier. The two attack at eachother with every blow being countered and avoided.

"This isn't over!" Havik raises his arms out and screams.

* * *

"What happened?" Rika asked. 

Takato looked over the horizon of chaos, "I don't know." Takato answered, "But I know it isn't over."

* * *

As Havik screams, darkness begins to consume him. 

"What is this?" Blood Rose looked in question as Havik began to fade into darkness. The darkness then began to travel to Blood Rose. He tries to get himself out, but the force of it was too strong. In panic he began to scream as he was pulled into the world of Shadows.

* * *

"Where am I?" Blood Rose looked around, wondering how far he is from home. 

"You're in the Dark Ocean." A voice said, "Don't get comfortable, for that word does not exist here."

Blood Rose comes face to fce with a black caped figure. The cape is torn at the bottom and a hat covers his face. "Who are you?"

* * *

**An Alliance will be made...**

* * *

"My name is Saji." The figure replies, "I've been here for too long." 

The two enter through a portal of light and find themselves back in Shijunko. "I'm free." Saji drops to his knees to touch the ground. "I'm free at last."

* * *

Blood Rose and Saji both pull out their swords and prepare for a fight. The stand back to back as they prepare for their enemies to make the first move.

* * *

**To battle another.**

* * *

"Look out!" Blood Rose ducks, but Saji is hit by the full force. 

Saji slowly gets to his feet and looks in horror of what was before him.

"Hello Kamiya." The disfigured face of Apocalymon looks at him with an evil mocking grin, "Remember me?"

* * *

"I killed him before." Tai said, "I'll do it again." 

"I'm not gonna let you do this alone." Takato stops Tai from leaving, "We're partners for this."

* * *

"Please be careful." Rika says as Takato holds her close to him, "If you die, we have no hope. And hope is all we're living by right now." 

"I'll give you more than hope." Takato said.

* * *

"Havik and Apocalymon make a deadly team." Blood Rose said, "But so do we."

* * *

**Blood Rose and The Dark Jester  
Prevention of Chaos**

* * *

A mugger hides in an alley as he holds a gun and a purse in his hands. From the corner of the alleyway, hidden in the shadows, a figure stands there, hidden from sight. As the criminal turns to see what's there, only the face of Saji is seen as he jumps out of the shadows and pounces the criminal. 


	2. Night of Comings and Goings

**Well, with 'Vestige' up and running, I think its time to start on this story.**

**Right now, Takato is 18, the age where he should be in his last yeat of high school, but if you've read 'Forbidden Love', you'll learn that he no longer goes to school.**

* * *

The day was nice and bright. People wandered on the streets of Shinjuko, going to places. 

But they are of no importance. The main focus of our story takes place in the library. In this library, there was a very dedicated worker, not that it really mattered. Its just that he is the only one there who actually seems to enjoy working there.

"Just remember to bring it back before the due date." Takato said, smiling to the little girl who was checking out a storybook.

"I will, Matsuki-san." The little girl smiled back at him, "Come on mommy, I want to read this right away."

Takato smiled as the little girl and her mother walked out of the library. This was his life, a quiet time working at the library and going home after. It wasn't the luxurious life, but it still satisfied him.

"Takato, we've got some books that need to be shelved." A fellow female librarian said as he approuched Takato. "Ricky's sick for the day, and I'm dealing with a kid who wants a library card."

"I'll get to it right away then." Takato said, "Let me just take care of this last customer, Yaeko"

"Thanks, Takato." Yaeko smiled, "Hey listen, you wanna grab a coffee on our break?"

"Sure." Takato smiled, "That'll be great."

"Great." Yaeko smiled, "I'll see you then. For now, I'll let you get back to work."

"Thanks." Takato smiled.

This was his life now. A nice quiet life. Of course there were times he wished he could have done some other things, but that didn't mean he regreted this decision. He was quite happy with the choice he made.

He finished with dealing with the last customer in his line and proceeded to move on to shelf the library books. He rolled the trolley along through the carpet floor, moving to the many sections of the library. Yaeko took the liberty of ordering the books out into sections, so that all Takato had to do was go to the sections the books were organized in, and not have to search for the section of individuel books. The first section he went to was the cooking section. The books that he shelved had some interesting covers, some that even got Takato to take a second glance.

"Maybe I'll pick one of these up tomorrow for a glance." He said to himself.

The next section that he had to go to was the history section. The covers of these books also interested him; one being on whether or not King Arthur was truly the king that was described in literature. Others included Hiroshima, World War I, The coming of Hitler, and other books on war. Finally, the last section he had to go to was the science fiction. As he was putting the books on the shelf, he came acroos the final book which caught his eye more than the others.

**Dimensional Theories:  
More Rules to the It?**

Takato looked at the book in surprise. This could be an interesting book for him to look at. He chose to keep the book with him, shelfing the rest of the books and taking the trolley to where the rest of them were stored. He checked his watch and saw that his break was in another minute, so he made his to the library's entrance/exit, and sure enough, Yaeko was waiting for him. She was in a black coat that went down to just above her knees.

"You ready?" Yaeko asked.

"Yeah." Takato said, "Let me just run one thing on the computer and get my coat."

"Sure thing." Yaeko smiled, "I'll wait for you outside."

* * *

"So how are you enjoying your second week at work?" Takato asked, taking a sip of his coffee. 

"Its going great." Yaeko said. She held her coffe in her two hands, warming the palms, "Everyone's really nice to me."

"Well, there's no reason to be rude to co-workers." Takato laughed.

Yaeko laughed with him, "So, how is Rika doing?"

"She's doing great." Takato answered. "So how bout you? Did you talk to Ricky yet?"

Yaeko quickly looked down at her coffee. "He's a nice guy, but I don't think he really notices me."

"Well, you're not giving him a chance to." Takato said, "Everytime he's around, you always hide behind some books. Maybe if you made the first move, you might have a better chance in knowing him."

"You really think so?" Yaeko asked.

"I've been with Rika for over two years." Takato smiled, "You think I make up these ideas on the spot?"

* * *

Takato opened the door to his apartment. He tossed his keys on the kitchen table and headed straight for his bedroom. With the book in his hand, he went to his desk and began to skim through the contents, looking for anything interesting. After a inute or two of searching, he found a page that had some new knowledge for him. The creator of the theory seemed to have some intellegence that Takato hasn't read of before. 

_"There may be the possible theory that traveling to these other dimensions may involve the Space-Time Continuum. Similar of how fictional stories involve heroes who can bend time, and move through space, it may be possible to use this in dimensional travels. It may be required to have a perfect amount of stillness to successfully achieve dimensional teleportation. It has been once said that pure concentration requires absolute silence and zero distraction. Now the only possible way to achieve pure concentration is to be completely frozen in time. But if it were possible the pause of time could in fact allow a human being to move through dimensional space and transport himself/herself to a completely new realm of reality._

_In theory, to make dimensional teleportation a success, one should not bend time and move through space, but bend time _to_ move through space."_

This guy really knew how to make a theory, this was something Takato could really use. Maybe this author could be right, stopping time may be essential in going to other dimensions, it may be the only way for Takato to have any hope of getting to the Order Realm. He decided to read more to find any possible ways on making this theory possible. Within the next fifteen minutes, he came across a section of another chapter written by another person.

_"The movement of time in our world is always constant, never stopping or being manipulated. Alternate dimensions don't follow the same flow of time as ours, while we follow a specific amount in seconds, another dimension may consider a second to be much longer."_

Takato kept reading on, reading different thoeries.

_"Traveling to another dimension is not impossible, but merely _near_ impossible._

_In 1593, a man by the name of Gil Perez found himself in Mexico City when he was on sentry duty in Manila seconds ago._

_The theory I have to share through this event is that the way to other dimensions or to other locations is through pockets scattered throughout the planet. They are very difficult to see, only being visible for split seconds if someone can fix their eyes on the spot at precise accuracy. These pockets flash in different locations, never reappearing in the same location right after. The only possible way to find these pockets are to either be lucky enough to be standing perfectly still in the spot where the pocket will appear, or stop the flow of time and just walk right into one._

_If time manipulation is in fact possible, then there would be many people in our planet disappearing and reappearing all over the place."_

"Wow..." Takato was mesmerized by the words from these theories. Maybe one of them might be able to help him find a way to the Order Realm. Its been a while since he first started looking into finding theories and clues on how to go to other dimensions, but each of them never really gave him the right answers, but these book helped him get just a little closer to his goal. He then heard a knock on his door. "Who's there?"

"Its Rika." The voice on the other side responded.

"Rika?" Takato glanced at the clock on the corner of his desk, "Oh right." He got up from his desk and wakled over to the door. He opened it and standing on the otherside was none other than Rika, "Hi."

"Hi to you." Rika smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't answer the door sooner, I was doing some reading." Takato said, holding the book in his hand.

"Tell me about it later." Rika took his hand as she dragged him out, "We're gonna be late."

"Hold on, let me get my coat." Takato tossed the book on the couch and grabbed his coat that was hanging right next to the door.

* * *

The night was cool, a small breeze blew along the streets, carrying leaves and a bit of dust with it. It was the time of night where people were either still in their workplaces or at home, with only a few people who were outside to get to places without a car. 

From the privacy of the rooftops, far from the eyes of anyone, a paranormal activity occured. From the emptiness of the air, a small vortex formed, slowly growing and revealing a passageway inside. From this opening, a body forced itself out and onto the human world. Once the entire body was out, the portal faded away, leaving this figure alone on the roof.

"Finally..." The figure hissed out, "Earth."

The face of the figure was shown from the light of the streetlamps as well as the moon that was just pearing from the horizon. Flaps of skin hung on his face, which was nothing more than a skull under a battle warrior's helmet.

"I will find you." He said, "And when I do, Chaos will be there."

* * *

The couple sat together in elegent chairs that took up the entire room, save for a stage at the front. The seats were all filled with people in formal clothing, most of them in black. The stage had many people in elegant clothing, large dresses and large hair styles. What stood out from them all was the character that wore a white mask that covered most of his face. The performance ended with a scene that had a chandelier crashing down on the stage. 

"That was pretty good." Takato said, "I can't believe you actually talked me into seeing this."

"Well, you're enjoying it aren't you?" Rika asked.

The two were together by a stand-up table, having a drink during the intermission of the musical they were watching; Phantom of the Opera. Rika had begged Takato to take her to see this, and with enough persuasion, Takato gave in and bought tickets for the both of them.

"Oh yeah." Takato smiled.

The two continued on their conversations of how school and work was going for them. With Rika still at school and everyone there still not knowing of Takato's whereabouts, Takato didn't really have to worry about people giving her much trouble regarding him.

"So, how are things going with your research?" Rika asked.

"I think I may have gotten closer to finding it." Takato answered, "I found a book that mentioned theories on how to find ways to get to other dimensions. These theories are much more helpful when I consider all the other things I've read."

Before Takato could go more indept with this, a chime was heard.

"Looks like you'll have to wait until after." Rika said, "The second Act is going to start soon."

Rika held onto Takato's hand and pulled him along through the crowd and back to their seats.

* * *

The two sat together on the roof of her house, staring up into the night sky and gazing at the stars. 

"You ever wonder if you need to use these gifts for saving people again?" Rika asked, "It's been a long time since the news mentioned about Blood Rose."

Takato stroked Rika's hair with his warm hands, "Shinjuko doesn't need Blood Rose anymore. The city's safe now, this gives me the time to be with you with no more distractions. They don't need him for the crime we have now, the police are more than enough."

"But don't you ever dream about going out there and fighting crime again?" Rika asked some more questions.

"Of course I do." Takato answered, "But its not worth spending my time out there when I could be with you."

"You really love me that much?" Rika asked, smiling at Takato.

"Of course I do." Takato said.

"Tell me." Rika requested to her lover, "Tell me you love me."

"I love you so much." Takato smiled, "That will never change."

Takato leaned towards her and closed his eyes. Rika responded by closing hers as the their lips met. What seemed like mere seconds felt like a lifetime for the two, they kissed eachother, knowing that there would be no distraction.

"Rika?"

Well, almost no distractions.

"Yes mom?" Rika called back.

"Where are you?" Her mom asked, apparently from the kitchen of their house.

"I'm outside." Rika called back again.

"Well, hurry back in, you'll catch a cold."

Rika giggled, while Takato could only smile. "Sorry Takato." Rika said, "But you know I have a curfew to follow."

"Don't worry." Takato said, "Tonight was more than enough fun." He held onto Rika's hand and the two closed their eyes. when they opened up, they were now off the roof and right in front of Rika's front door. "I'll call you tomorrow after school."

"Ok, bye." Rika planted a quick kiss on his lips.

"Bye."

* * *

**I am really sorry for taking too long with this story, but my Naruto fanfic really got me focused on it instead.**

**I can't say for sure when the update will be, but please bear with me.**

**This chapter is short, because I didn't want the 'big' stuff to happen just yet.**


	3. Chaos Has a Name

**Holy, its been a very long time since I updated this story. Sorry for making you all wait, but I've been busy with my Naruto story. Now that its done, I can get to work on this.**

**Hope you enjoy it.**

**While I work with all the news stories, I will also be rewriting The Dark Jester. I felt that the first book needs to be done a little more better, add a few chapters and such. So think of it as The Dark Jester: Special Extended Edition.**

* * *

Takato was making his way back home. It was a nice night so a bus ride didn't seem too neccesary for him. The sky was clear and there was a small but cool breeze that made the warmth of the weather tone down.It was like the perfect recipe for perfect weather. As he was waling down the peaceful streets of the city, he was interupted by someone calling for help.

"Somebody!"

Takato ran to where it was coming from. From what he saw, there was a man being attacked by three other men. It appeared to be a gang related issue as the three attackers were dressed in clothing that seemed to match in style and the victim was nothing more than a business man on his way home. Takato reached for the top of his shirt to undo it, but stopped.

_Wait, what am I doing?_ Takato backed away from the scene, not wanting to draw attention. _Blood Rose is no more. I can't go against them like this._ He couldn't block out the calls for help, it just rung in his head as if he was inside a church bell. _Why did I ever give up on Blood Rose?_ Takato then looked ahead and had a thought. As if ignoring the crisis at hand, he simply walked away.

"Just shut up and give us the wallet!" One of the gang members said.

"Please, help me!" The man continued to scream for help.

"This is getting annoying, just cut him man."

One of them pulled out a switchblade and made his way to the victim. Before he could strike, a hand grabbed the knife hand and threw the gang member to a wall.

"What the..."

A masked man stood before them. His face was hidden in a plain white mask with his eyes being all that showed. He saw the other two come at him so he prepared for it. He sidestepped to avoid an attack from one and pulled out his foot to trip him. With the remaining enemy, he pointed at him and then swung his hand back. The gang member suddenly flew in the direction the hand swung to and hit the wall. The masked man approuched the man and offered a hand, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes." The man took the hand and was pulled onto his feet, "Thank you."

"No problem." He smiled behind his mask, "You just get home. I'll deal with them." He waited for the man to leave before he turned his attention back to the gang. When he turned around, one of them pulled out a gun and aimed it at him. He quickly thrusted his hand forward and sent a force of energy that pushed the gun weilder back at the wall. "They just don't learn."

* * *

"I can't go back to jail!" One of the gang members cried, "My mom's gonna be so mad with me if she finds out."

"You think your mom is the worst of this?" Another said, "If my dad finds out, he'll kill me with my own knife."

Takato smiled in success as he walked away from the three after leaving them suspended by chains. He walked to a cart that was selling many arts and craft supplies. He quietly placed the mask into the pile of other white masks and walked away. Takato had to admit to himself, he enoyed the feeling of saving lives again. He enjoyed the feeling of knowing that he had stopped the act of a criminal activity all on his own. But he remembered why he gave that up, he remembered why he gave up the title of Blood Rose.

Flashback

_"Maybe its time I put my mantle to rest." Takato said to himself as he held the uniform of Blood Rose. He had been comtemplating this decision for quite some time. There were no more major threats in his city and all supernatural evil was no more. He gently folded up the uniform and placed it back in the chest it came from. The rose that had accompanied him throughout his duties rested on top of the clothes. "There's no more evil and I'm with the woman I love. I need to make sacrifices for her." With that, he closed the lid of the chest and locked it. He took it to his closet and put it in there, leaving it in the blackness of the small space._

End

Takato couldn't just go back on the promise he made to himself. He swore to give up on Blood Rose, knowing that he won't be needed in his future. He knew that the Order Realm didn't need Blood Rose there, only Takato himself. He put his hands in his pocket as he continued his walk back home. Because of a bunch of teenaged idiots, he lost around fifteen minutes of his time to deal with them. He was now late for what he was planning to do when he got home.

* * *

_"Rider Jump!" A green armored figure pulled a lever on his buckle that resembled a grasshopper. When he did, a surge of energy went through his body and to his left leg. When all the visible energy reached the foot, he jumped up high to the sky. "Rider Kick!" He pulled the lever leg back to its original position as he fell to the ground. His left leg came in contact with one of the many green monstrous beings. Once it came in contact, a anchor jack that resembled a grasshopper's leg that was on the person's left leg clicked and sent him back up, performing another kick to another monster. This was repeated until all monsters exploded in green fire._

"That's right!" Takato jumped from his couch. Of course he was late for his usual time to watch all of his favourite show, but he still made it in time to see all the important bits. Despite being a mature age, Takato still couldn't say 'no' to **Kamen Rider Kabuto**. It was the least he could do to pass the time. After another ten minutes of this show, it was now over. Takato decided to turn in for the night, starting by washing up for bed. Once he was all ready to sleep, Takato got into his bed and let himself drift off into sleep.

* * *

_A dark beach, no life, no sun, no sign of anything living anywhere. The sand was dark with grains that looked as though they were bleached in death, but the ocean itself was worse. The water was just as dark as the sand, making it seem like fishes would rather rot on land than swim in there. Further up ahead, there was a pathway made of rocks which were as dark as the very sand in laid superior over. At the end of the rock path, a large lighthouse stood erected. You would think someone would be living there, but in a world like this, there are doubts. From the top of the lighthouse, the black light spun around the place, shining what was meant to be light over the beach._

_There was no doubt about it._

_This place was death._

* * *

Takato woke up from what seemed to be a dream. What was that dream just now? Where was that place? It all seemed too strange for him. Perhaps it was best to deal with it later, he needed to get himself ready for work. He got out of bed and prepared for his daily routine. He had the coffeemaker set up to brew a cup for him, he had the TV on to get him updated on the world, and he was in the middle of making breakfast. With everything set, he had his breakfast as the TV was still on.

_"We interupt this news with a live feed of some strange occurances." A reporter said. "A man was walking home last night when he came across a startling sight."_

_The screen then showed a very poor quality image of what looked like a strange purple light hovering in the middle of the streets. Around the area of this was destruction. The roads were crumbled, the sidewalks were destroyed, cars around the palce were flipps for crushed and the streetlights were practically gone._

_"Dark portals have begun to appear in the site of chaos that was left behind." The news reporter announced on TV. "Conclusions are that these are the works of the supernatural, just as it used to be a long time ago."_

Takato looked over to the TV screen. "Just as it used to be a long time ago?" Was this reporter refering the Digimon? Takato knew it couldn't be Digimon, portals like those were never seen back then. But what Takato was able to speculate was that some evil the Orderrealm once mentioned was responsible. "I really need to find my answers soon." He checked his watch, he still had some time left. So walking to work won't cause any problems, as long as he isn't sidetracked. He had the coffe set in a thermos and in his hands and he was out to work.

* * *

"Takato!" Takato looked up from his desk. His manager came up to him, he wasn't upset, but more distressed.

"What's wrong?" Takato asked.

"I hate to do this to you, but can you help pick up the slack that Morimoto left?" The manager asked, "He's been bedridden for a whole two weeks now."

"No problem." Takato said, "Who else is gonna be here tonight?"

"Just you and Toby." The manager answered, "It's won't be too much, I just need you guys to reorganize the returned books and reshelf them all."

"Doesn't sound like too much." Takato said.

"Thank you." The manager smiled, "You're a lifesaver."

As the manager left, Takato leaned back on his chair, smiling. _You have no idea._ The day continued on with people coming and going, taking out books, returning them, or renewing them. Anybody would find this job to be the most boring job on the planet, but Takato enjoyed the quiet life. In the library, no one can bother him the way people do in other places like restaurants or department stores.

After some hours, it was time for the place to close. Of course, Takato was one of the people that were supposed to stay behind. Takato didn't care, he had nothing better to do. His favourite TV show was going to show and episode he had already seen, and he didn't have any new book to read. This was a perfect way to pass the time, and if the manager kept his word, the job should be done fairly easily. He went to the boxes of books that needed to be grouped and shelved. Some of them were already taken care of, Toby had already done his portion and was probably on break. Takato got to work on taking the organized books on carts and taking them to be shelved. After a good hour and a half, the job was finally done and the two were able to leave. Takato had the keys to the place, so he was responsible for closing up.

Takato was now on his way from work. It was late, but that didn't matter to him. His manager promised him a break and that he can come to work later in the afternoon. As Takato was walking home through he quiet streets of Shinjuko, there was something dark trailing behind him. Takato seemed to sense this presence, but when he looked back, nothing was there. He shrugged his shoulders, _Maybe just a cat or something._ When he turned to walk again, something sweeped him off his feet and carried him up to the sky. Takato looked down and saw that he was far off the ground and slowly coming to a stop. He then felt the grip on his body loosen and he began to fall. As he fell, a dark portal appeared in front of him and a figure shot out, holding a large spiked ball on a thick wooden stick. The figure swung his weapon and hit Takato at the face. The figure then disappeared in the portal and reappeared in another, attacking Takato from that angle. This went on until Takato reached the top of a building and landed with a large thud. The figure then drops from the sky and lands hard on his feet, dislocating his knee joints. But instead of screaming in pain, the legs suddenly reattach themselves. The figure came into full view with the moonlight shining on it. The disfigured face and the corpse-like body brought a small amount of discomfort into Takato.

"Well, I was hoping to meet you at last, Blood Rose." The monstrous thing snarled.

"Blood Rose?" Takato was slightly surprised that this thing knew his past alter ego, "Who are you?"

"Havik is who I am." The monster replied, "And Chaos is what I bring to you."

"Havik?" Takato remembered that name from two years ago. "It's you!"

"Yes, now you remember. My poor Demon Brothers fell at your hands, but not I. I will bring your end." Havik raised his arms to the sky, "Tremble At My Feet!"

Takato winced in pain, but he was slowly starting to heal. He couldn't remember the last time he had to heal from this much pain, but he was glad that he wasn't getting rusty on healing himself. He got to his feet and saw that Havik was not going to show any mercy. Being in no position to fight back, he ran. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop while Havik chased after him, swinging his weapon in a psychotic manner, smashing everything that was in the range of his swing. Takato came to a point where there was no rooftop for him to jump to other than the one he was already on. With nothing else to rely on, Takato jumped down below and landed an a pile of trash. He got himself out of the mess and continued to run. Hopefully, Havik lost sight of him now.

Havik reached the end of the building where Takato jumped off of and saw no sight of him. "You're lucky tonight, but I'll see you again."

Takato peered out from the shadows, he sighed with relief when he saw Havik disappear. Despite being healed of wounds, he was still sore from the pain. Unable to manage with all the pain, he limped his way back home. He was grateful that Havik didn't catch him on his trip home. Halfway there, he was too much in pain, so he took a cab for the rest. Now the worst part for his trip came; all three elevators were broken, leaving him to take the stairs. It seemed like his night was going bad tonight. He forced himself up the long flight of stairs and made it to his apartment. Instead of taking the time to get into his sleepwear, he just flopped on the couch.

* * *

The next morning, Takato woke up, aching from last night's beating. He decided get the day off to try and sooth the pain. He called the library and made up a story of how he fended himself against some younger muggers and that he was in pain from it. Believing his story, they let him off work for the day and until he called back to tell them when he could start again. With the call made, he moved himself to his bedroom and rested there. His phone then began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Takato."

"Rika, hi?"

"I was just left the library, where are you?"

"I'm at home, I'm in a little pain and...wait, why aren't you at school?"

"Some idiot tried to pull off a Dark Jester rip-off and started a fire in the gym and cafeteria."

Takato scoffed, "Nice."

"Would you mind if I came over?"

"I don't think you should. I'm planning to stay in bed until I feel better."

"Oh, alright then. I'll call you later."

"Ok, I'll hear from you then. I love you."

"Love you too."

Takato hung up and sighed heavily as he let the warm comfort of his bed sooth him. After some time, he found he was unable to sleep it off, the night with Havik was too much to think of. He needed to do something about it, with Havik around, that means Takato's running out of time. He needed to get his answers sooner. He rolled over to the other side of bed and dug through the books he collected on dimensions and traveling. Perhaps he missed some things, perhaps he misinterpreted something in the books. In spite of all this, he still wondered about that dream he had, the dream of himself in a dark beach with no essence of color anywhere. Does the dream have something to do with Havik's arrival?

Havik stood alone at the rooftop of a church, he sat at the highest point of the building with an apple in his hand. "Well, Blood Rose is still in Shinjuko. That saves me the trouble of searching. Now all I need to do is wait for him to come out. With me around, he'll have no choice." He took a bite of his apple and quickly spit out its contents. Looking at where he bit, he saw a worm squirming around inside. In delight, he caught the worm in his teeth and sucked it out of the apple. He then took another bite of the apple. "This will be a time to enjoy. Such chaos will I bring."

* * *

**Yes!! I did it, I finished another chapter. I apologize to everyone who was waiting for this update, but my Naruto story seemed too important to pass up. But now that its done, I can get back to work on this and Vestige.**

**Also, I will be in the works of writing another Digimon story crossing with Kamen Rider Kabuto. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

**Please review on this chapter.**


	4. Back in the Business

**Well, now its time to get some more updates on this story. While we're at it, I'd like to recommend some of X Prodigy's other storys based on Digimon characters with comicbook hero like stories.**

**His newest story, Blackout is a good one. If you guys like Digimon Frontiers and/or like Ghost Rider, you might like the story.**

**Oh, and a note. I've been having trouble finding out whether the city was Shunjiko, Shujinko, or Shinjuko. But now I found it. It's Shinjuku.**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

* * *

The first thing Takato did once he was back at work was to look for more books regarding time travel, teleportation and alternate dimensions. During his time on shelving books, he stopped by some sections that may have some more books, even during his break, he went looking for books. Luckily for him, his coworkers didn't see this as strange, they just saw it as Takato wanting to look for more books of interest, knowing that he likes reading. So far, he was able to get his hands on two books regarding the Time/Space Continuum, one on teleportation, and three on time traveling, though one is a fictional novel.

Takato slumped over on a coffee table as he had the books on it. He was going to need a lot of time to be able to go through all these books. He'll need to use that time well so that none of it was used as a waste. Along with that, he'll need a lot of coffee to keep awake.

After reading through most of the books, it was now getting very late; he's been at it for over seven hours, it was now 2 am and he was starting to get too tired to keep reading. His eyes began to drop constantly and he couldn't keep himself from staying awake. Perhaps, he'll have to save the rest for another day. He was able to get through two books, this would need more than just one night.

* * *

_"Where am I?" Takato looked around him, everything was pitch black. There wasn't anything around him to see, there was nothing._

_"You killed me..."_

_Takato looked behind him, but there was nothing there._

_"We were just following our beliefs."_

_Takato looked to his left; nothing._

_"Did we really deserve this?"_

_Takato looked behind him. What he saw was something he didn't expect on seeing. He remembered them by how they looked, they were the terrorists that he stopped. They were exactly as he left them that night, bloody, cut, dismembered, yet not dead._

_"You killed us...Blood Rose."_

_"Huh?" Takato looked down at himself. He was suddenly in his Blood Rose costume. He held his rapier in his had as he always did. "What the..."_

_"You killed us!" They all ran at Blood Rose, ready to attack._

_"You're a murderer..."_

_"Get back!" Blood Rose swung his rapier around frantically. He didn't care where he hit, as long as they were gone. "Stay Back!"_

_"Killer..."_

* * *

Takato shot himself upright on his bed. Sweat was forming on his face and he started to feel very cold. He never had nightmares like that before, why now? Was there something behind the fact that he had that nightmare? Takato looked down on his hands, he couldn't help feel as though they were covered in blood. He felt as though he was back to that night, the night he stopped the terrorists from destroying the city, the night he made his first kill, the first time he felt no remorse for the loss of life. Was he really a killer?

All this thinking made him forget about being tired. He needed his sleep, maybe a warm glass of milk will fix that.

* * *

It's been over four days since Takato started to cram as much as he could with information. He had been staying at home all these days, calling work to say he was unable to make it. He regrettably had to cancel a date with Rika because of this. He had finished reading three more books, he still had more to deal with now that he picked up some extras. Finishing the book he was just reading, his cellphone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Takato."

"Oh, hi Rika. What's up?"

"Are you still busy?" Rika asked.

"Yeah, I still am. Sorry."

"What's up with you these days?" Rika asked, "You're more busy than usual."

"I need to find a way on getting to the Orderrealm." Takato said, "Life is just working against me these days, but it won't be for long. I promise."

"Alright." Takato was able to sense the disappointed tone in Rika's voice, and it hurt him. He never intended to hurt Rika like this. "Bye."

"Bye Rika." Takato hung up, tossing the phone on his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh. Not only was he getting bored of all this reading, but he upset of blowing off Rika so many times. It was bad enough he had to cancel whatever plans he made before, but he wasn't able to see Rika at all for the past days. After all this reading he did, maybe he deserved to have some time off. He jumped to his bed to grab his cellphone. He quickly dialed Rika's number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?"

"Rika. I've decided to make some changes with my schedule right now." Takato said, "How about we meet for dinner?"

"Oh um...perfect. My mom is off for a modeling gig in Osaka for the rest of the week and my grandma's at a friends for just as long." Rika said, "So we have my place all to ourselves."

"Great, I'll see you in a few hours then?"

"8 then."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

Takato hung up and flopped on his bed. Finally, after a long time, he can finally get a break.

* * *

Takato got off the bus that took him closest to Rika's house and made his way to her, taking the usual route to get there. While he was passing by an alley, he noticed something taking place. Two teenagers were attacking a helpless teen about the same age as them. Takato took note that the alleyway was very familiar to him, in fact, it was a place that ad a special moment. This alley was the first place Takato commited a good deed as Blood Rose. Is it coincidence that there is another attack happening here? Who cares, someone needs help.

"Hey!" Takato's voice got the attention of the two teenagers, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just having a bit of fun, that's all." One answered.

"Unless you want to join in the beating, then get the hell out of here."

Takato simple shrugged. After sighing, he teleported himself right in front of them. He then jumped up and kicked both of the teenagers in the face with his raised legs. He landed right on the ground without a sound, as if he floated down. He looked to the victim, "If you can run then run fast." He watched as the teenaged boy got up and ran off as fast as he could, away from the scene. The two thugs got up and turned to face Takato.

_Aw great, I figured they would run by now._

The two charged at Takato, punching and kicking him in unison. Not only was it bad that they were attacking him at once, but the way they attacked was unexpected. These guys new karate. While Takato would try to block one attack, he would have to dodge another, making the blocking hard to do. Of all criminals he faced, none knew how to fight as well as these two, they were either pathetic men with weapons, or big brutes that would rely on crushing the opponent. I guess you can say it was second nature for Takato to assume that these two would know no decent way of fighting. Finally, they got to him; As Takato blocked on over the top kick from one, the other punched Takato right in the face. Takato staggered back from the blow, but kept his stance. One of them ran at Takato's left, prepared to attack, but what he didn't expect was for the other to come from his right. The one from his right dropped down and kicked his leg, tripping Takato. As Takato fell over, the one on his left kicked Takato right in the face as he was falling.

"Had enough, punk?" One of them continuously kicked Takato without rest. "Come on now, you feel tough now?"

"Let him go, he learned his lesson." The other said, "Let's go find someone else to beat on."

The two agreed and proceeded to walk away. Takato was still alove, but still in pain, he took the time to heal himself up, but a cough gave him away. The two teenagers looked back, watching Takato get on his feet.

"You still alive you little bastard?"

As the two ran back to finish Takato off. One of them prepared to punch at Takato, but he dodged the punch, grabbed his arm and threw him down to the ground. He then grabbed his head and lifted him up, dragging him over to a large trash container. Takato then slammed the teenager's throat right at the edge of the compacter and let his body fall to the ground, gasping for air. Takato then looked over to the other one, not wanting to spare any time, he used his telekinesis and threw him to the wall. With his hand, he curled it up, slowly making it tighter. The teenager that was pinned to the wall gasped for air as he felt his airway shrink. Takato smiled in delight to see him suffer.

_Wait...this isn't me. I'm not a killer, Rika wouldn't want me to be._ Takato undid his telekinesis, letting the teenager fall to the ground. What he saw himself doing, it scared him. How could he have brought himself to almost killing someone? Demonic Brothers, they didn't count, they were real monster, one's that would have no place in justice, terrorists, they were an exception, leave them alive, they'll just try to blow something up again, but a punk, Takato could never bring himself to kill one. He walked away from the scene, leaving the two teenagers to grovel in pain. He took out his cell phone, if anyone would finish his job with those two punks, it would be the police.

* * *

Rika went for the door after hearing the knocking. She opened the door and found Takato standing on the other side.

"Am I late?"

"Oh god, what happened to you?" Rika took note of the bruises on his face and the small trace of blood from his nose.

"Nothing, just ran into a little trouble." Takato said.

"Come on inside." Rika took his hand and pulled him in, "I'll get you some ice for that."

"What about dinner?" Takato asked.

"It'll be ready soon."

* * *

With dinner now finished, the two sat together on the couch enjoying a movie together. The two took the time to clean up the dishes together before watching a movie. They were near the finale of _Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End_ when it was now midnight.

"My goodness, this is one long movie." Takato said.

"That just means more time to snuggle." Rika got herself more comfortable on Takato's shoulder while she kept her blanket covering her. "How are things going with the reading?"

"I'm still getting nowhere." Takato said, "All these books I've read have information I already know."

Takato flopped his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. Rika sighed softly and sat up to look at him in the face, "Takato, why don't you just take this night to forget about this whole thing? Let this be our time together. We haven't been able to spend much time together for the past few days."

* * *

On a beach, where color no longer existed, a caped figure walked along the sand, taking notice of strange activities happening in the sky.

"Now that is strange, I've never seen this before." The figure said.

The black light that was shining form the distant lighthouse was getting bigger and darker, instead of the black light being a transparent beam, it was nothing more than a solid black beam, as if life would perish in its ray.

"The Darkness is getting stronger." The figure then face forward, revealing a pale white face and blood red eyes, "What will you do?"

* * *

Takato woke up from what seemed to be another dream. This wasn't like last time, it was different. It wasn't about his past kills on crime, but of something completely different. What could it have meant? What was that place he saw in his dream, what was with the black light, and who was the person at the place? Rika was still asleep, so it was probably best not to wake her. Takato slowly got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to get something to drink, water, milk, juice, anything to quench his thirst. In the kitchen, Takato could hear the radio on, tuned to a classical music station. While Takato was going through the fridge to grab whatever he could safely drink, the music reached its end and a news report was now on.

_More reports are coming in of criminal activities happening around Shinjuku. All these reports take place in areas where a strange dark portal was previously spotted. Witnesses claim that they saw someone, or something come out from these portals and then going back in before it disappeared from sight. So far no reports on missing or dead people have been reported, but there have been damages left in the area.  
_

"Havik..." Takato knew that he was causing all this trouble. Havik was the one who opened those portals and destroyed all those things. And Takato didn't even bother trying to stop him.

"What are you doing here?" Rika asked, yawning as she walked into the kitchen.

"Sorry, I needed something to drink." Takato said.

"Well, all we've got right now is water and apple juice." Rika said, "So help yourself to that."

_These reports of attacks in our city have the people begging the question, "Where is our hero?"_

"Still can't keep that stuff out of your head?"

Takato sighed, "I'm sorry Rika, but this is just who I am now. It feels like I'm abandoning them."

"Well, don't be like that. This is your life to live, you make the decisions, you decide what to do, don't let the people tell you what should be done." Rika said, "So tell me, what do you want to do about this?"

* * *

Takato rummaged through his closet, pulling out a small chest from the top shelf of the closet. He carried it to his desk and placed it on top. He then unlocked the chest and opened it, revealing its contents. Inside, Takato looked at past memories of wearing the clothes that were in the chest; a crimson shirt and pants, steal boots, leather gloves, the mask, and the most important component of his costume; the rose. Takato was quite surprised that the rose wasn't wilting. It's been in the chest for over two years, not having any light, any water, no life. The rose truly was a strange one. He held the rose in his hands gently. He stared at it curiously, but after a while, he quickly put the rose away.

"No, I cant." He shut the chest and locked it back up, "I already made my choice, I can't go back."

He turned away from the desk and looked on the floor, where today's newspaper was. The front page had a picture of a wall with writing on it made from blood. The message read; 'Chaos has a name, Havik.'

**Startling Sight at Shinjuku Town Centre**

Under the picture, was the caption that went along with the picture;

_Police are startled with the sight of this message written on the walls of the Town Centre last night. So far, no evidence of murder is reported, though the presence of blood contradicts with the claim._

Takato ran his hands through his hair and let out a big sigh. "Why, why why? I still need more time." He hasn't found anything regarding the Orderrealm and how to get there. He needed time to find everything he needs about it. But with Havik causing trouble, he can't turn back. He swore that he would give up on Blood Rose until the day came he was finally able to set foot in the Orderrealm. "What choice do I have?" He looked back at the chest, knowing he couldn't turn away from his duties now.

* * *

With nighttime now arrived, the moon was the city's source of light. At the top of the highest point in the city, a figure clad in red stood alone. He looked below to the streets of the city, watching as the lights of cars went by and people walked on the side. When it seemed that this night was peaceful, a small explosion was heard from a building behind the figure. He turned back and saw smoke coming from where the explosion came from. The figure simply stepped forward and fell off the building diving headfirst. Halfway through the fall, the figure pulled out a red rose and tossed it forward, towards the direction of where the explosion took place.

From that area, three men came out of what was destroyed, a wall. They each carried a shotgun and a bag with what was no doubt, money.

"That was easier than I thought." The leader said.

"We've got ourselves more cash than expected." The second said with joy, "This is a great way to start the night." Their celebration was cut short from the sound of something hitting metal. They looked to where the sound came from. The leader walked towards the sound, with his gun aiming forward. He came upon a large garbage container and only saw a red rose piercing the container. He grabbed the rose and pulled it out. He looked back to his two fellow robbers, "Its just a stupid flower." When he looked back, he came face to face with the red warrior.

"For your information, that is a rose, and its mine." He took the rose from the criminal's hand. As he aimed his shotgun at the warrior, he was pushed back by an invisible force.

"Oh god, its him." One of the other robbers said, "Its Blood Rose!"

Blood Rose held the rose in his hand and then it changed into his signature rapier. He looked at his weapon, admiring the work. "The power, I missed it."

* * *

**Whoo, I can't believe it took so long for me to get this up. Well, now that its up, you have to wait again for the next update. I'll try my best to update sooner, maybe the christmas holidays will be filled with nonstop updates.**

**Anyways, please review on this.  
**


	5. Into the Dark

**I DID IT! I UPDATED!!!**

**Well, let's not waste any time, I'll try to be quick with announcements. For those of you who are waiting for me to update 'Vestige', let me just mention this; since 'Vestige' is merely a spin-off of the main storyline, its only gonna be a few chapters, if I'm lucky, it'll be at least 8-10 chapters, if not, it'll be at least 5. But don't be upset. Davis will still have a good amount of screen time during the third Dark Jester story.**

**So without further ado, on with the story.

* * *

**_Knock knock._

Takato simply groaned under his blanket.

_Knock knock._

"Aw, come on." Takato forced himself up and dragged his feet to the front door. He finally got himself into his night robe and got to the door. When he opened it, Rika was standing there. "Rika?" Takato rubbed his eyes, "It's a school day, what are you doing here?"

Rika simply raised a newspaper up to his eye level, "Looks like I was right when I thought you'd be exhausted at this time."

Takato took the paper and read the headlines.

**Blood Rose Returns!**

_Masked hero returns once again after a long hiatus to bring justice back into our lives. His first act after his long disappearance was to stop the successful escape of armed bank robbers._

"...oh..." Takato looked at the paper. "So, is this why you skipped class?"

"I'm on a break today." Rika said, "But what's this about? I thought you said you needed more time before you can return to being Blood Rose."

"Well, I guess I couldn't resist the city's cry for help." Takato said. He took the paper with him to his living room and slumped on the single seated couch. "And I'll be honest, it was good to stop the bad guys again."

"So I guess this means you'll be out more often these days?" Rika asked.

"Well, I guess so." Takato said, "But that doesn't mean I'll have to be away from you for long. We can still work something out. After all, I'm a superhero, I always get things done my way."

"Takato, try not to be too confident." Rika said to him, "Not all superheroes had it easy."

"Easy?" Takato asked, "If I remember correctly, life wasn't easy for me when I first became Blood Rose."

"Oh, alright. You win." Rika punched him on the arm, "But don't let it get to your giant head."

"So um... do you want to go get something to eat?" Takato asked.

"Actually, I was thinking of doing something else first." Rika grinned. She pushed Takato onto his bed and then she sat on top of him.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Takato said, "Here? Now?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"Hold on." Takato pushed Rika off of him as she rolled to the side of the bed. "This is a little too sudden. First of all, I just got out of bed, you find out about me going back to my hero time, and now you want to make love to me?"

"Make love? Takato, don't be such a pussy." Rika said, "You can call it sex."

"Sex, make love, either way, this is a little too sudden right now." Takato said.

"Oh come on. You don't work today, I don't have school today, we're alone in your apartment." Rika said, as she slowly crawled her way back on Takato. "What's wrong with doing it now?"

"Oh god..." Takato muttered under his breath, "Might as well."

"The least you could do is enjoy it, even if you pretend." Rika said. She then took off her shirt, revealing much more skin than Takato had seen before, she was now sitting on top of him with her bra visible to him.

* * *

Downtown, just outside a bank, police cars surrounded the building with the officers standing behind their open doors with their guns aimed at the bank door.

"This is your last warning, come out with your hands up, or we will be forced to go to extreme measures." On of the officers said through a loudspeaker.

While they waited for a response, a loud explosion broke out from the side of the bank, far from the front entrance. Everybody in the vicinity of the bank ducked in cover, worried that the explosion was closer and didn't want to be hit by the debris. From the explosion, several masked men came running out, holding several large bags and guns.

"There they are!" On of the officers shouted, "Pursuit!"

Being too big to follow by the car, the police ran after the criminals, but with the head start, the criminals had the upperhand in the run. They were able to outrun those officers through the alleyway and made their way across the street and through another alley way.

* * *

Takato and Rika sat together on Takato's sofa while they watched TV. There was an pizza box with a few crusts inside and several pop cans. The TV was turned onto an episode of **Kamen Rider Kabuto**, showing a scene of a man in a suit being thrown out of a van in the rain, with another man in a trenchcoat sitting in the rain.

"So, what's the point of this?" Rika asked, "Why is that guy kicked out of ZECT?"

"Because he sucks." Takato answered, "I never liked him to begin with."

The TV suddenly changed into a special report.

"Aw, come on!" Takato complained.

_"We interrupt this program with a special report happening right in Shinjuku."_

"Oh great." Takato muttered.

_"A bank robbery has taken place just downtown." The reporter said, "The bank robbers have eluded the police and are now on the run."_

"These guys just don't learn." Takato said to himself. He turned to Rika, "Sorry, looks like we'll have to end things for tonight."

"It's alright." Rika said, "Just don't get yourself killed." Rika suddenly dropped her expression, "Oh god, it hurt just saying that. Anyways, give me a call tomorrow after school."

"Alright, night." Takato showed Rika out the door. When she left, Takato locked the door and went to his bedroom. He went to his closet and took out the small chest and opened it. "Well, its never too late to teach them."

* * *

The criminals made their way to the fenced gateway of a car dumpster. They all tossed their loot over the fence and then climbed over.

"Did we make it?" one asked.

"Dunno, are they still on our tail?"

"No, I don't see any of them cops."

"Come on, we still gotta meet with our ride." They all picked up the bags and ran deeper into the junkyard. As they continued to run, one of them suddenly tripped and was dragged off into the shadows.

"What the..." They all looked back when they heard a scream, but saw nothing. "Yo, Kanji. Where are you man?" With their attention now focused on one of their men, another was suddenly dragged off into the shadow. They all turned to that direction, but as before, nothing. "Yuusuke?" This continued to go on until only five were left out of ten.

"This is bad. I'm outta here." One of them ran off, but he didn't get far. Suddenly, a crimson figure dropped from the sky and kicked him in the head.

"It's Blood Rose!" They all pulled out their guns and cocked them. "Come on!" one of them shouted. "Draw your gun!"

"Gun? No, I walk a different path than that." Blood Rose whipped out his rose and it flashed into a rapier. He quickly sliced the gun apart from the first gunman and kicked him back. When the others came at him with their guns, Blood Rose quickly destroyed their guns as well in the same fashion. The rapier then flashed back into a rose, as Blood Rose placed it back on his belt. He ran at the first gunman and kicked him right at the guts, knocking him on the ground. He then jumped up with a spinning reverse kick at the next, he then landed on the ground and leaped forward delivering a punch at the next.

"What the hell?" The last standing gunman exclaimed. In his state of panic, he charged at Blood Rose, swinging his fist around. Blood Rose teleported behind him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him off his feet. He then used his telekinesis and pulled the thug towards him and when he was at close range, Blood Rose kicked him right at the face, knocking him out cold.

"Well, that takes care of that." Blood Rose said, dusting his hands clean.

* * *

"Now, you behave and stay here until the police arrive." Blood Rose finished up tying the last of the criminals with the chains he found around the junkyard. "They should be here in a few minutes." Done with his nightly duty, Blood Rose left them there and made his way out of the junkyard. When he was out of sight of the criminals, he took off his mask and ran his finger through his hair. "Well, that's enough for me for tonight."

"Oh, not quite."

"Huh?" Takato looked around the junkyard. He knew very well who it was, the voice was familiar. "Havik..."

"Missed me, boy?" Havik suddenly appeared behind him, sitting on a wrecked car. "I was beginning to think that you forgot about me."

"You're kinda hard to ignore." Takato said. He put his mask back on, fitting it perfectly on his face.

"Well, I'm flattered to know you remembered." Havik chuckled.

"You're done with causing trouble." Blood Rose said, drawing out his rapier. "I took care of four demon freaks, I can take care of one psychopath." He grasped onto the handle tightly, hopefully, this will be the last time Havik ever appears.

"Then I shall make your death, be the greatest chaos this world will ever see." Havik said, with a supposedly gleeful grin.

Blood Rose charged forward, aiming his rapier forward, making it be the first thing to come in contact with Havik. Once the two collided, their respective weapons clashed with the sound of metal grinding metal and the clang of blades making contact. Blood Rose took a swipe at Havik, but Havik dodged the slash, When Blood Rose tried to take a swipe at the legs, Havik retaliated by snapping his legs and bending them the opposite way, dodging the tip of the blade. Havik then snapped his legs back into proper place.

"Nice try, Blood Rose." Havik cackled. "But you'll have to do better than that if you want to defeat me."

"Better? Like this?" Blood Rose used his telekinesis and lifted Havik up to the sky. Using his two free hands, he lifted up two of the many trashed cars and lifted them up to Havik. With the motion of is arms, he brought his hands together and the cars smashed into each other with Havik in between. The two cars then fell to the ground, with the cars giving off a slight bounce as it hit the ground and the pieces of the car breaking off. "Well, that was easy."

From under the wreck, Havik slowly got back onto his feet, but with a heavily deformed body; his neck was hanging to the side, his left leg was broken, his right arm was broken off, and his left hand was snapped. Havik snapped all his joints back in place and cracked his neck to the side. "Heh, tickled."

"Son of a..."

"Well, let's get to the real fight now." Havik lunged forward and dived down to the ground. He continued to drag his body along the ground until he reached Blood Rose. once he did, he grabbed Blood Rose's ankles and lifted him up. Havik then swung Blood Rose around, smashing him against the junk and finally tossing him into the stack of cars.

Blood Rose slowly got up, badly bruised and bloodied up. He waited until all his cuts were healed and his bruises faded off. He got back on his feet and wiped off the excess blood from his chin. Blood Rose stabbed his rapier to the ground, leaving both his hands free. He then conjured up his telekinesis to lift up a large amount of dangerously large objects; poles, thick scraps of metal, glass, anything he knew would do serious damage. Swinging his arms forward, all the objects flung towards Havik, all at once, but Havik simply batted at them with his weapon, smashing them away leaving him unharmed.

"Is this the power that the Demonic Brothers fell to?" Havik laughed, "How pathetic, either you were lucky, or they were weaker than I thought."

"Oh sure, rub it in." Blood Rose groaned. He watched as Havik swung his Morning Star around, flailing it in circles. "Keep it up, I'm gonna make you eat that thing." He needed to be clever on this, frontal attacks proved to be no good, and smashing him with stuff was just as pointless, he needed to think of something new. The only solution he had was to find an opening for him to attack him with his rapier, the blade that the Demonic Brothers fell to, the Rose was what overpowered them.

He finally had an idea.

Blood Rose threw his rose directly at Havik, and as he predicted, Havik side-stepped and the rose. Timing it, Blood Rose used his telekinesis and brought the rose flying back towards him. The rose changed back into the rapier, catching Havik's attention, but before he could prevent it, the rapier sliced at his side and back into Blood Rose's hands. He then charged at Havik and with his sword, he slashed at Havik several times and finally finished it by running the blade through Havik's chest.

"About time, you bastard." Blood Rose grunted. When he removed the blade, Havik fell to his knees. "And that's the end of that." Blood Rose turned and walked away, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard Havik laughing. He turned back around and looked over to Havik, who was still kneeling, but now laughing psychotically.

"This isn't over." Havik said, "You've simply delayed the inevitable. Chaos will destroy this world, and I shall be the one to rule it all."

"Well, as long as I delay it, I'll take all the time I need to kill you." Blood Rose raised his rapier at Havik.

"You won't be around to delay it anymore." Havik said, "Suffer in darkness. ETERNAL DARKNESS!!!" Havik's body began to be covered by a sheet of darkness, slowly enveloping him from the ground and crawling up to his head. Once the shadow completely covered Havik, the figure that took shape of his body sank to the ground, gradually flattening until it was nothing but a shadow pool.

Blood Rose looked down at the pool of shadow that Havik left behind. "What is this?"

The shadow suddenly began to move around as if something was underneath it and trying to break out. Suddenly, the shadow pool broke out into many roots, all directing at Blood Rose. Before he could escape, the shadow took hold of him and began to consume his body. While Blood Rose did all he could to try and remove this shadow, all his attempts were hopeless as the shadow continued to grow over him. By the time the last bit of his body was covered, his scream was muffled as if he was being stuffed by a pillow. Amidst the struggle, his body slowly sank into the ground, until all that was left was nothing more than the pavement that he once stood.

When Blood Rose opened his eyes, he found that he was in darkness, perhaps he was still in the grasp of the shadow. When he pressed his hands down to push himself up, the ground under him was suddenly soft.

_Sand?_

Blood Rose looked down and saw that it was indeed sand. But the sand was strange, it wasn't in color like ordinary sand. It was...colorless.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. He looked around the colorless beach, realizing he was no longer on the streets of Shinjuku.

From the far end of the shoreline, a black caped figure watched as the new arrival looked around the beach, as if he was looking for any form of life.

"Well well, it seems I have a visitor."

* * *

**Wow, its been like what, a few months since I updated this?**

**Sorry about that, but being in university, school must come first. I'll try to update this as much as I can, afterall, I'll be writing up more Digimon fanfics.**

**If any of you have seen my profile, you'll know that I'm planning to write three fanfictions based on Kamen Rider, but with Digimon characters.**

**Kamen Rider Kabuto-Season 1 and 2  
**

**Kamen Rider Den-o-Tamers**

**Kamen Rider Kiva-Frontiers**

**They won't be up until alot later in the future, but keep an eye out for it.  
**


	6. The Dark Jester

**Hey everyone, sorry about taking so long with this.**

**Things haven't been going great at my school, and if any of you are curious as to why, its because I go to York University. If you guys have been keeping up to date with the world, you would have known about the strike and how its been giving us students tons of work when it ended. But now the load has lightened and I can get back to work.  
**

**Well, now that the plot is moving forward, let's finally bring Saji back.**

**

* * *

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Blood Rose looked around the colorless beach. This place was definitely new to him, he had never seen any place like this before.

"Where am I?" Blood Rose asked himself, "Hello!?" No one answered, so he tried again. "HELLO!?" Blood Rose decided to walk along the beach, hopefully he might find something, or someone that could help him with his situation. "What is this place? No color, its kinda creepy." He then stopped when he noticed that up ahead, there was a lighthouse. But the light that was coming from the lighthouse was no ordinary light, it was as if the lighthouse was emitting shadow instead of light. "Ok, now that's creepy. Maybe there might be someone there."

While Blood Rose began to walk towards the lighthouse, behind him, small puddles of darkness began to form and trail behind him.

Blood Rose stopped in his tracks, feeling like someone was following him. He turned around, but saw nothing. "Hello?" He called out to whoever it could be that was following him. "Anyone there?" He kept looking from side to side, but there was nothing, no one. "What the hell is going on here?" When he turned to continue walking, he came face to face with a shadow creature, which opened its jaws and roared at him. "What the..!" Blood Rose drew out his rapier and stabbed the creature right in the chest. "What the hell are you?"

Blood Rose turned around when he heard more roaring from behind. He was now surrounded by several more of these shadow beings.

"Looks like we have a new arrival." One of them hissed, "Maybe this one will be easier to take down."

"Maybe..."

Blood Rose looked around, they surrounded him from every direction, he had no chance of just running off. But then again, he could always teleport his way out. Blood Rose closed his eyes and focused his power on a location away from the center of attention. When he opened up, he was still in the same spot. "What?" Nothing happened. Was this place draining him of his ability? If that were the case, he'll have to rely only on his weapon if he planned on surviving. One of them charged at Blood Rose, but he avoided the strike. He swung his rapier at the monster and it disappeared after a slice through the torso. The monsters all jumped at him and one by one, they fell to Blood Rose's blade. Normally, he had a thing against killing people, but these things were clearly not 'people', they were exceptions to his rule. The fact they disappeared back into shadow was proof of that, Blood Rose was better off with them being an issue for him.

* * *

From the foot of the lighthouse, the black caped figure continued to watch the events unfolding with this new arrival. "Interesting, very interesting." From his view, this new person was doing very against the monster, but he knew that he wouldn't last long. He could tell by his fighting style that it won't be long before they overpower him. "Well, as they always say, 'The enemy of my enemy is also my friend.", unless they no longer say that." The figure proceeded to move towards the action.

* * *

Blood Rose continued to fight his way out of his situation, but these dark monsters continued to respawn. "My god, you guys are like dog shit, YOU'RE EVERYWHERE!"

While Blood Rose tended to his own set of monsters, the black figure walked towards him, cutting down the monsters that charged at him. All he needed to do was slice at them once with his sword with no effort whatsoever. As one of them approached the caped figure, he grabbed its head and dragged it along as he slashed at the others that spotted his presence. When he got fed up with carrying the extra weight, he brought his sword to the monster's neck and sliced it right off, bringing the monster to fade away into shadow.

"Look, he's here." One of the creatures said, looking towards the approaching enemy. "Fall back."

On cue, all the shadow creatures faded into their own shadow, until even their shadow faded away. Blood Rose looked around, wondering where they were all going, wondering if this was a trick, and they were just waiting for him to drop his guard. He then spotted the caped figure, the one that forced the monsters to retreat. The figure covered most of his body with his cape, but what Blood Rose could clearly see was the mask he wore. The mask looked as though it was something a person could get at a circus. The mix of black and white with red eyes seemed to match the attire this caped person wore.

"Who the hell are you?" Blood kept his weapon up, ready in case this newcomer did anything funny.

"I could ask you the same question as well." The dark caped figure responded. "Its not common to find a newcomer in the Dark Ocean."

"The Dark Ocean?"

"Yes, this is the Dark Ocean." He answered, "And don't get too comfortable, for that word doesn't exist out here."

"Dark Ocean, dark clown. I think I can make the connection." Blood Rose charged at the clown.

The two clashed in a fight with blades, constantly going back and forth on the beach, neither of them backing down.

"Well, some friend you turned out to be. You really think you can kill me?" The clown asked, "I've fought and killed these monsters for years, I doubt this year will be any different. I doubt _you'll_ be any different."

"Shut up, freak."

Blood Rose charged at his enemy, striking at him with the swing of his rapier, but the clown deflected each blow with his own swords. The clown lunged forward for a stab, but Blood Rose sidestepped to the left to avoid it, blocking the sword with his rapier in the process. He then moved forward, sliding his blade against the clown's, moving towards the head. The blade made contact, but instead of going for the throat as Blood Rose had intended, it went slicing across the face, or in this case, the mask. The clown pushed Blood Rose back, at the moment the blade left the mask.

"Not bad." The clown said. He touched his mask, running his finger along the slash across the face, which went from the left cheek location to the right temple. "But that's going to cost you."

He ran forward, drawing out a second blade. He swung his two swords, spinning as he did. Blood Rose dodged and deflected the swords as they came at him, but he wasn't doing too well. The clown finally landed a strike right at Blood Rose's right arm, directly at the bicep. Blood Rose grabbed the wound, unsuccessfully trying to stop the bleeding. "What's going on? Why am I not healing?" This dark world must be affecting all his powers, not just his teleportation. Looks like he'll have to manage like an ordinary human being in here. Ignoring the wound, Blood Rose carried on with the fight. The fight carried them across the beach and towards a cave on the rock face, near the lighthouse. Although his focus was on the fight, he couldn't help but notice that this cave was lit with torches, was if somebody was living in this cave. Blood Rose blackflipped away from the clowns attempt to scissor his head off and leaped forward for a stab. The clown threw up his cape and caught the rapier with it. He then threw his cape to the side, yanking the blade off of Blood Rose's hand. This didn't stop Blood Rose, he knew how to fight against armed opponents when he didn't have his sword, although he did have his powers to help him out a little bit. As the clown moved towards him to strike, Blood Rose ducked under him, tackling the legs and sending the clown on his back. Blood Rose ran for his rapier and aimed the tip at the clown.

"You have talent to last this long against me." The clown said. "And you still have the nerve to keep fighting."

"Well, I don't kill you, what does that leave me?" Blood Rose asked. He swung his sword at the clown, but it was blocked by the clown's own sword. "I've already had my share of freaks, I don't need you to make it worse."

The two stood in place, fighting with force to overpower the other with their blade.

"I'll say it only once." The clown said, "Freak is a derogatory term for me. Either you call me a fool..." He put his force into a push, forcing Blood Rose back. "...a clown..." He went for a stab, but Blood Rose flipped away from it, moving further into the cave. "...or a Jester!" He ran at Blood Rose, swinging both his swords in a horizontal motion, like a charging army of scissors were coming towards the crimson knight. Blood Rose backflipped his way to avoiding the blades, but he knew it wouldn't last, it would wear him out. Blood Rose timed his coming backflip, and when the moment came, he put in more force into his arms, pushing him up to have his feet touch the ceiling of the cave. With the momentum, Blood Rose pushed himself off the ceiling and landed right behind the clown. Blood Rose slashed at his back, but only managed to get his cape, leaving a large slashed hole in it. The clown retaliated by throwing his sword at Blood Rose, but he hit it back, sending it further into the cave.

"Impressive." The clown said.

"You got anymore tricks?" Blood Rose taunted.

"I have plenty." He ran at Blood Rose, but instead of bringing his sword up to strike, he grabbed the feather from his hat. He then swiped it across Blood Rose's neck, and as if ran along his skin, it cut into it. Blood Rose grabbed the side of his neck, realizing that the feather was just as dangerous as any weapon the clown had. "Deception, can't be a jester without it."

"God dammit." Blood Rose looked at his hand, sure enough his neck was bleeding, but at least it wasn't serious. Blood Rose charged at the clown, rapier forward. The clown grabbed his sword arm and threw him over his shoulder. Blood Rose landed hard on his back, but got up as quickly as he could. The clown walked towards him, picking up the sword that he threw earlier. The two raised their swords and slashed at each other, but none made any progress in gaining the upperhand. The two found themselves in another sword lock, struggling for dominance. After some time of struggling, Blood Rose ended it by headbutting the clown, forcing him back. The two panted heavily as they stared each other down, waiting for the other to strike first. The duel had carried them to what seemed to be the end of the cave, clearly evident by the dead-end wall. The black-clad swordsman suddenly lowered his guard after noticing something on Blood Rose.

"Your...your sword."

"What about it?" Blood Rose asked, still keeping his rapier held up.

"The design on the hilt resembles the one on the wall behind you." He pointed out. Blood Rose turned his attention to the wall and realized that this clown faced person was telling the truth. The clown sheathed one of his swords back in its scabbard. "Who are you, why are you here, and more importantly, how did you get here?"

"I was brought here from some shadow portal created by a monster named Havik." Blood Rose answered, "When the shadow consumed me, I blacked out. When I came to, I found myself here."

"Havik you say? Then we may share a common enemy." The clown sheathed his other sword, "I've been hiding from these monsters that serve someone named Havik. Although I've never seen him in person, I can assume he is the same Havik that brought you here."

"Maybe." Blood Rose said. He turned his attention back to the wall, "What is this anyways?"

"It was just something I carved out." He answered, "Recently, I've been receiving these strange dreams and all of them had that rose. I believed that it may have been a sign for something, and on the day I finish it, you appear. It cannot be mere coincidence. Perhaps you've been sent here to free me."

"Free you?"

"I'm sorry, perhaps I should properly introduce myself. My name is Saji, The Dark Jester." Saji made a small bow in respect, "But, reality-wise..." Saji took his feathered hat off and then removed his mask to reveal a human face underneath. "My name's Taichi Kamiya, and I've been trapped here for way too long."

"Ah.." Takato grabbed his shoulder, the same shoulder where the wound was.

"Oh, here, sit down." Tai helped Takato sit down on the ground. "Let's take a look at that."

* * *

Somewhere within this dark world, Havik had found his way inside. As he stood alone in what appeared to be an open field, shadow pools formed around him and the same shadow monsters came out from within the pools.

"Master..." They all hissed.

"The news you tell me better be good." Havik said, "What have you done with Blood Rose?"

"He still lives." One of them said.

Havik said nothing. Instead, he took up his morning star and smashed it at the creature, killing it. "You failed me?"

"What could we have done?" Another asked, "Saji appeared."

"Saji? The clown?" Havik asked, "You mean to say that he is still alive?!" Now completely enraged, Havik attacked all his minions, killing them with one blow from his weapon. Once his rage subsided, only one shadow creature was left. "Go tell the rest of your pathetic race, Blood Rose and Saji will die. If you can't kill them, then I will kill you and your race." With that, Havik opened up a portal and walked into it, leaving the dark world.

* * *

"There you go." Tai finished tying a knot with the makeshift bandage wrap he made with his cape. The wrap was put over the wound that he given Takato, the least he could do was tend the wound. He had already tended to the one he made on Takato's neck, which wasn't as harmful as the shoulder wound.

"So you're the Dark Jester I've heard about on the news." Takato said, "I always wondered what happened to you."

"Well, I guess you can tell, I've been trapped here." Tai said. "I'm just lucky that all this hasn't made me crazy."

Takato took this time actually take a good look at this person. He looked as though he was around his late 30s, maybe even in his 40s. His clothes were ripped, the edge of his cape was ripped, there were holes in his clothes, the only thing that seemed to be in good condition was the mask he wore, save for the slash he put on it.

"I've been trapped here, kept away from home, from everybody that I love." Tai said, "I can't believe that I've been trapped here for almost two decades."

"Whoa, hold on. Two decades?" Takato asked, "Dude, the news has been saying you were missing for no more than two years."

"What? Just two years?" Tai asked, "That can't be right. I know how long I was in here, and I'm damn sure that it was a lot longer than just two years."

"Well, if you're telling the truth, how is time here flowing differently than in the real world?"

Tai took the tie to think that question over, until he got an answer after several seconds of thinking. "It's not the first time I've seen something like this. The Digital World was no different." Tai said, "I remember when I first ended up there; while I thought days, maybe even weeks went by, it wasn't even an hour in the real world. If you're serious about this, then maybe Sora's still waiting for me."

"Sora? You...have someone back home waiting for you?" Takato asked.

"At least, I think she's still waiting for me." Tai said. "She was all I could think about, she's the reason why I keep living on. I keep hoping that I'll get out of this place and see her someday."

"Well, you will." Takato said. With his wound wrapped up, he put his shirt back on. "If your dreams are meant to say that I'm supposed to get you out of here, then that's what I'll do."

"Really? That's great." Tai's face brightened up. "Well, um....that's great and all, but how do you plan to get us out of here?"

"How do I know?" Takato asked, "You're the one with the dreams, I assumed you would know."

* * *

**Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

**I don't really have a reason as to why I made Tai feel like he was trapped in the Dark Ocean for almost 20 years, when in reality it was only 2. I guess my only reason is that I wanted you all to understand the torture he had to endure all this time. Pretty much the same torture you guys went through while waiting for me to update this.**

**Well, I want the plot of this story to move and not lag behind with redundancy, so I'll be sure to have them out of the Dark Ocean and into the real world by the end of the next chapter.**

**Please leave me reviews. Its been a while since I got one.  
**


	7. Escape

**Well the two warriors finally meet, and about damn time too.**

**Well, I'm glad that some of you are still faithful to my work. I felt that the long delay between chapters had you lose interest.**

**For this chapter, I kinda had some small issues with filling in the page, so with great regret, this chapter will be slightly shorter than the normal chapter length.**

**And I am very sorry for taking so long, but I had trouble finding a good song for Saji to sing, something that would work well for the chapter. But I finally found it.**

**The original song is 'The Court of Miracles' from Hunchback of Notre Dame. The lyrics are my own, but I do not own the original music.  
**

**

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"What the hell do you mean?" Tai asked, "My dreams keep telling me that you would be the one to save me. How the fuck would you not know?!"

"Hey, watch the language. I'm trapped in this hellhole just like you."

"Well, this is just fucking fantastic." Tai slumped on the ground, leaning on the stone wall. "I guess we're both trapped here."

"Well, maybe we can try and get some more detail on how to get out." Takato said, "Tell me more about your dream, what do you see in it?"

"Well...every single one always has the symbol flashing everywhere." Tai began, trying to remember the contents of his dream to every detail. "And...well, there's also a voice in my dream."

"What does the voice say?"

"I..." Tai tried to remember his dream, trying to remember what happened in his dreams. "I...I can't remember."

"You serious? You've had these dreams for a while and you can't remember what a voice says?"

"You wanna try and live alone in the Dark Ocean?" Tai asked, "When you lived here for as long as I did, you tend to ignore many things."

"And you chose to ignore your dreams?"

"You showing me attitude?" Tai asked, getting on his feet. "If you want to get out of here, shut up and start thinking." Tai then sat back down.

Takato could see that Tai was irritated about this. "You really want to go home, don't you?"

Tai''s expression changed as he let out a sigh. "Yes, more than anything. I need to get out of here, you have no idea about the horrible things I've had to go through in here." Tai then put on his mask, and placed his hat on.

"Um...what are you doing?" Takato asked.

_Maybe you've heard of a terrible place,  
where the evil of all  
collect in a lair_.

_Maybe you've heard of that horrible place,  
called the Ocean of Darkness..._

"Hello, you're there!" Saji shouted. The loud voice caused Takato to jerk back a little bit.

_Where the Light has died.  
Where the Shadow has grown.  
And there's no way out!  
So we won't be around,  
to reveal what we've found._

_I've followed a method, all of this time_,  
_Much like a hornet, protecting my hive.  
Here in the Ocean of Darkness,  
it's been much of a hassle in staying alive!_

"Um...Tai?" Takato was hoping that he could say something to him, looking quite irritated by the fact Tai was singing.

"Wait one moment." Saji said, "I'm not finished."

_Evil is vast in the Ocean of Darkness  
Mad, cynical, murderous, and dumb. All in one!  
I prefer to make the killings quite quick,  
Cause its the number of kills that's really the fun._

"TAI!"

"Hmm?" Saji finally stopped singing to listen to what Takato had to say.

Takato simply stared at Saji, he didn't have much of an expression, just a blank look on his face. "Do me one favor."

"What will that be?" Saji asked.

"You sing again, I will kill you."

Saji took off his mask. "What did I say about the attitude?" Tai pushed at Takato.

"Hey, don't push me." Takato pushed him back.

"Watch where you put those hands." Tai pushed him back.

"Ok, that's it!" Takato threw a punch at Tai, connecting it square in the jaw. The force of the punch spun Tai around and forced him to knock his head on the stone wall. Once his head hit the wall he fell to the ground, knocked out. Takato simply looked at Tai's unconscious body, looking very concerned. "Uh oh...um....Tai? You alive there?" Takato gently tapped his body with his foot, thinking that moving his body would wake him. "Tai?

* * *

"Oh.....god. My head..." Tai rubbed his forehead. "I'm gonna kill you for that, you little." When Tai looked up, he found that he was no longer in the cave which he considered his home. "Whe.....where am I?" He looked around, everything around him was pitch black, even the floor he was standing on was the same. Suddenly, Tai noticed something in the distance. The figure slowly came into view, getting larger as it came closer to him. "...Sora?" After all this time of being away from her, Tai still remembered how she looked, remembering just how beautiful she was.

"You have a chance for freedom Tai." Sora said.

"But, what can I do?" Tai asked. "What can I do to get out of here?"

"Summon the Rose to open the Rose."

"What?"

"Summon the Rose to open the Rose." Sora was then slowly pulled away from Tai, slowly disappearing from Tai.

"Sora, wait!" Tai ran towards Sora, but the speed of her moving away was much faster than his running. "Sora!"

"Find the Rose to summon the Rose." Sora continued to repeat this on and on until she finally disappeared from Tai's sight. Once Sora was suddenly gone from view, Tai looked behind him and saw a blurred image coming into focus, it was Takato.

"Come on Tai, wake up." Takato shook his body. "Don't die on me dude."

Tai slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to get everything in focus. "The voice..."

"What?" Takato asked.

"I've got it." Tai said, "The voice in my dream, I finally remember what it says."

"Well?"

"Summon the Rose to open the Rose."

"What?"

"That's what it says, 'Summon the Rose to open the Rose.'." Tai repeated himself. "Maybe it has something to do with whatever powers you have."

"Well, that might be a problem." Takato said. He remembered how he felt different while in this world, "I can't use any of my powers. I'm able to teleport, heal, and move things with my mind. But none of that works now that I'm here."

"Well, maybe you just need to focus hard on it." Tai said. "Concentrate as hard as you can."

* * *

"Master, what shall we do?" one of the shadow creatures asked.

Havik, standing before a large mass of the same monsters answered. "Well, you know where the two are located. GO GET THEM!"

In response, the monsters all marched out. Since they all knew where Saji's cave was located, they obeyed Havik's orders and went to the cave to draw Saji and Blood Rose out.

"I told you Blood Rose, you've only delayed the inevitable." Havik spoke to himself. "I will draw you out into the open, and then I'll kill you. Tha is when it will all end."

* * *

"Give it a shot." Tai said,

Takato closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Alright, here goes nothing." Takato brought his hands to his chest, focusing his inner energy. He slowly spread his arms apart as he exhaled deeply, all while his eyes remained closed. _Come on, focus. I need to get out of here._ He opened his eyes and he looked down to his feet. Nothing. "Why can't I do it?"

"Maybe you need motivation." Tai said, "Try and motivate yourself, think about what pushes you to be strong."

"What makes me strong?" Takato closed his eyes, bringing his hands to his chest again and assuming to focusing position. _Think about what makes me strong._ Rika. Its Rika that motivated him to fight. He focused his thoughts on her, focusing on how his strength is what keeps her, and his city safe from harm. _This is it._ Exhaling deeply, Takato moved his arms away, channeling his inner energy through his body. He felt a sudden surge of intense, yet warm energy flowing through his chest and moving down to his feet. Takato opened his eyes and saw that it finally worked. "I did it!" Without wasting any time, Takato motioned his right hand forward, as if commanding to Rose Symbol to move forward. The symbol on the floor did as commanded and moved towards the symbol on the wall. "It's working." When the summoned Rose symbol aligned with the symbol on the wall, the outline began to glow a bright white light.

Tai stared at the light, admiring the beauty of finally seeing something that was no longer dark. "My god...light..."

The light from the Rose symbol began to stretch out, spreading from lines to becoming a full stretched mass of light. The immense force of the light was so strong that Tai and Takato were forced to put on their masks to block out as much of the light as they could. Takato stepped forward, knowing that this was how things were meant to play out. "This is it, Tai. Come on, let's go back home." Takato stepped deeper into the light, being consumed by the bright mass and disappeared from Tai's view. Tai followed shortly afterwards, but stopped briefly. He couldn't leave just yet, he had to at least keep this place away from others in this world, prevent them from entering his home world. He took out two dice and dropped them on the ground, letting them bounce. The dice resulted in the outcome of a three and a five. "Kaboom..." As Tai stepped into the light, the last thing he heard was the sound of an explosion and stone breaking.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Havik yelled as he kicked one of the shadow goons in the throat. "THEY'VE ESCAPED?! YOU FAILED ME!!" He pressed his foot on the creature's throat, while the rest around him backed away in fear.

"...please...master..." The one pinned under Havik's foot begged through the small airway in his throat.

"I told you of what would happen should you fail me." Havik put more force on his foot. "And I am not one to lie."

* * *

The light had finally faded from around the two. When Tai opened his eyes, he saw something that he hasn't seen in years. For the first time in a long time, he saw things in color.

"It...it can't be..." He removed the mask from his face to remove any possible obstruction of vision. "I'm...free..." Tai dropped to his knees and touched the ground. He then brought his face onto the ground and cried out of joy. "I'm Back!!"

"Uh..." Takato looked at Tai, slightly uncomfortable. "You're not gonna kiss the ground are you?"

Tai got back on his feet. "I can't believe I'm actually back." Tai said, "After all these years, I'm back home." He then remembered everything he left behind, "Sora...I'll be back soon."

* * *

**I'M DONE!!!!!**

**Once again, I'm so sorry about the super long wait, but at least its done at last.**

**I'll try to get the updates coming sooner, but no promises. School's more important, and I won't screw things up with my studies.**

**Oh, and maybe I should mention a few things about the future chapters, just so you don't have hope for the wrong things.**

**1) Sora and Tai won't reunite in this story. That'll happen in The Dark Jester 3**

**2) Davis/Vestige isn't gonna in this story. He's got his own spin-off to worry about, which I have to update.**

**And....well, that's everything.**

**Please be patient for the next chapter.  
**


	8. Back at Home

**Well, now that Tai's back home, he's gonna have to readjust to his old life.**

**Be prepared for some good funny moments between these two heroes. I took a lot of time to make this chapter work.**

**Enjoy :)**

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* * *

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"I'm finally back." Tai looked around himself, looking at the surrounding. Despite being night time, Tai could see the colors of the place, the presence of colors brought tears to Tai's eyes.

Takato recognized the place as the area he was before being taken to the Dark Ocean, it was the junkyard that he fought Havik. It was as if he never left; he could hear the sound of the criminals that he had previously subdued and the faint ringing of the police sirens in the distance. Takato looked over to Tai, and it was then that he noticed something. "You've changed."

"What?" Tai asked. "What's changed about me?"

Takato pointed to Tai's face. "You suddenly look younger. You look less than a few years older than me." The age lines on Tai's face, the ones that would've made him seem like a man of 30 or 40 had now disappeared. wrinkles on his face were now gone, leaving behind a young face.

"I...I guess my body changed back to the way it should be according to this year." Tai said. He couldn't exactly see how he looked, he hasn't seen his own reflection ever since he ended up in the Dark Ocean. The water from the beach did no good in giving him a clear reflection. Nothing looks clear in darkness. "Maybe Izzy can explain it to me."

"Who's Izzy?"

"My tech guy."

"You have a tech guy?"

"Don't you?"

Takato paused briefly. "No."

"Well, I do recommend you get one." Tai said. "Really comes in handy." Tai looked up to the sky. This was the first time in a long time he loved to see the night sky. the stars made this darkness feel beautiful, nothing like the darkness of the beach he was trapped in. Takato took it a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air of the real world, but instead of fresh air, a strange stinging smell went up his nostrils. It definitely wasn't the smell of trash, and it was coming from Tai. "Oh dude, you reek."

"What?" Tai looked at him in question. Tai lifted his arms and sniffed his armpits, his eyes widened from discovery of his odor. "Oh, shit." Tai quickly threw his arms down. "I really to wash up, I'll see you later." Tai turned to leave the junkyard

"Wait." Takato quickly stopped him. "Why don't you stay at my place? Take the time to clean up and get some food."

Tai stopped walking. He turned around to face Takato. "You sure? Cause I can just find a hotel to stay at for the night before I go back to Odaiba."

Takato walked up to Tai. "I don't think so. First, you have no money for a hotel. And second, Odaiba's a long way from Shinjuko." Takato put a hand on Tai's shoulder. "This'll be quick." Takato closed his eyes and concentrating, the two suddenly disappeared from the junkyard, and just in time; once they had left the scene, the police had just arrived.

* * *

When Tai regained his composure, he found himself indoors. He looked around the place and saw that it wasn't the junkyard.

"Welcome to my place." Takato said with a smile. "You're probably hungry, so help yourself to anything in my kitchen." Takato pointed to where the kitchen was located. "You'll also probably want a change of clothes. I'll go shopping for some."

Tai removed his hat and cape and dropped them on the floor, where he left the mask. He walked over to the sofa and slumped on it.

Takato looked at the cape and hat in disgust. "Uh, try not to make a mess while I'm gone." Takato picked up the cape, hat, and mask and put them in the broom closet and put them at the top shelf. "I'll just leave these up here." Takato went to his room and quickly got changed into some casual clothes and threw his costume on his bed. He could put them away later. Takato left his room and went out the front door. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can."

When Takato left, Tai looked around the place. "Some food actually sounds nice." Tai went to the kitchen and looked around the place for something to eat. Heck, considering what he's been living off of, he grabbed anything that was edible.

* * *

Takato unlocked his door and opened up. He carried a large bag that had several articles of clothing, including shirts, pants, and even some underwear. Upon entering the apartment, he was hit with a strong and horrible stench. "What the hell happened here?!" Takato looked at the state of his apartment. Food was all over the place, empty cans of pop were lying on the tables and floors, and scraps of leftovers were everywhere. It appeared as though Takato had a party in this place, but the only person who was here and snacking on all of this was Tai. While Takato was standing, distressed by the state of his place, Tai was slouching on the sofa with a bag of chips to his right, and a can of pop in his left hand. He had removed the rest o his clothing, being left in nothing but his underwear.

"Dude...where does it all go?" Takato asked. "You've practically eaten a week's worth of food in less than an hour."

Tai looked around the place. "Huh, would you look at that." Which was all he could say. "Well, having eaten nothing but fish and some unknown berries, I'd eat anything."

_**Knock knock**_

"Takato?"

"Crap!" Takato looked over to the door, he recognized the voice as Rika's. "Uh...." He looked around the place, no way in hell would he be able to clean this up in time. "Give me a minute!" Takato kicked some trash off the floor as he made a path to the door. He opened the door, but only enough so that Rika couldn't see inside. "Hi."

"Is...something wrong?" Rika asked.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Takato said, "Just need to do some cleaning."

"Well, why don't I help?" Rika let herself in the door.

"Rika wait." When Takato turned to stop Rika, she had already seen the state of the place. "Maybe today was a bad time for you to drop in."

"What the hell happened here?" Rika asked. "Did you have a party here?" Rika walked around the apartment, trying to avoid stepping on any trash that was on the floor. Even the furniture seened ti dirty for Rika to put her bag. When she entered the living room, she was greeted by Tai, who was slouched on the sofa with the TV on. "Who the hell is this?"

Tai wasn't exactly paying attention, it was all focused on the television program. "OH, COME ON!!! TENDOU, DON'T BE A DICK! KAGAMI'S JUST TRYING TO HELP!!!" Apparently, Tai has gotten the Kamen Rider fever and was into the show as much as Takato and Rika.

"Uh..." Takato rubbed the back of his head. "That's Tai. Believe it or not, he's the Dark Jester."

"What?"

"Sup." Tai said, raising a hand.

"You've got to be kidding me." Rika said. "He's nothing like the Dark Jester I've heard on the news." Rika turned back to Takato. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What, no. It really is him, look." Takato went to the broom closet next to the front door and pulled out Tai's Dark Jester costume. "Here's his mask."

Rika took the mask and gently moved her hands around the mask. "Oh my god... So it really is him." Rika looked back to Tai. "Where have you been this whole time?" She still found it hard to believe that this was the Dark Jester. Maybe it was because of his appearance at the moment, the lazy couch potato appearance made the image of a nighttime vigilante rather impossible to see.

Tai first responded with a fairly loud belch. "Trapped. I was trapped in a dark place for...how long did you say?" Tai looked over to Takato.

"Two years." Takato answered, while he proceeded to clean up the large mess in his home. "Wait a minute..." Takato picked up a glass bottle and brought his nose to the top to smell it. "Where the hell did you get beer?"

"The guy next door." Tai said, pointing to the wall where the neighbor's room was. "Nice guy."

"I hate him." Takato said. "He keeps me up with all night with loud sex."

"He just has his own ways of expressing his love for the lucky lady." Tai said.

"He's never had a woman at his place before."

"Then how did he..." Tai took the time to think that over. "Oh..."

"Yeah, that's why its more annoying than it should be." Takato said. "Look Tai, if you plan to stay here, you're gonna have to clean up the place." Takato looked around the place some more, then something caught his eye, it wasn't alcohol, but it still caught his attention. "Hey." Takato picked up an empty bag of BBQ potatoe chips. "This was _my_ bag of chips. I love BBQ!" Takato looked around some more to see if Tai got to anything else that was meant to for him. Takato then picked up a small jar, it was empty, but what the label said made him a little concerned. "Tai, why's the jar of wasabi empty? I bought it last week and never touched it."

Tai looked over to see the jar. "It gave the chips a nice kick."

Takato looked away from Tai in disgust and looked back to Rika. "Sorry, but tonight isn't a good time for me. I'll call you later tonight."

"Alright." Rika smiled. "And maybe the next time I come back here, it smells a little more nice." Rika walked to the front door and exited the apartment.

Takato leaned his head at the door after closing it, sighing deeply. "Not what I had in mind." Takato then noticed the familiar stench. "And dude, SHOWER!!"

* * *

Tai ran his hand through his hair as the hot water soaked him. He hasn't felt the good feeling of warm water for so long, he forgot how great it was. The dried blood on his skin had already washed off, whatever dirt he had in his hair and on his skin had left his body and fell into the drain. Tai had already gotten his hair clean with the shampoo and his skin cleaned with the soap, but the soothing feeling of the water was what he wanted right now, he simply stood under the shower letting it soak him from head to toe as he closed his eyes, falling into a comforting trance. After washing himself off for a decent amount of time, Tai turned off the water, leaving the steam to keep him warm. He came out of the shower and grabbed the towel that was hanging on the rack. He placed it on his head and dried his hair off, slowly moving from the head and going down until his feet were dried.

Having cleaned himself in the shower, he felt different, better. The feeling of being clean was something he didn't think he'd ever feel. He turned towards the mirror in the washroom. He wiped the fog away from the mirror, giving himself a reflection to look at. He moved all his hair off his face to get a good look at himself; he looked exactly the same as he did before he was trapped, before he was taken from Sora. But the one thing that changed was his hair; apparently, the Dark Ocean didn't give him back the hair he used to have. His hair had grown out past his shoulders, that needed to go. His facial hair also had to disappear, he was never a fan of a beard or even a stubble. He looked to the table next to the sink. Takato had also bought some bathroom supplies for him. Apparently, Takato saw that Tai wouldn't want his facial hair so he bought a razor and some shaving cream. A pair of scissors were already waiting for him along with everything else, so he didn't need to leave the bathroom.

* * *

Takato had just finished cleaning up his apartment, putting all the trash into a large garbage bag and leaving it outside his apartment. "I'll put that away later." Grabbing the can of air freshener and began to spray it around the apartment, eliminating the stench that Tai had left from his mess. After a minute or two of spraying, the stench had finally faded and the smell of a fresh spring morning filled the place.

Right after Takato sat down on his couch, resting from the cleaning, the bathroom door opened. Tai came out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Huh, you clean up pretty well." Takato said, looking at how much younger Tai had now looked after losing the excess hair.

Tai rubbed his hand under his chin, admiring the smooth skin. "You think so? Well, that's good to hear." Tai grabbed the bag that had the clothes Takato bought for him. He looked through the contents, impressed by Takato's taste of fashion. "Oh, and you got me underwear. How sweet."

"Eh, I got a thing against going commando." Takato said. "I did you a favor." He pointed to the direction of his bedroom. "You can change in there."

Tai took the clothes and went into the bedroom as Takato said. Taking the clothes out of the bag and setting them on the bed, Tai removed his towel.

Some time passed by and Tai was looking at himself in the mirror with his new clothes on. Tai admired the style Takato picked out, but he admired it more with the way it looked on him. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans that had a natural fit to it; not too baggy, but not to tight to constrict his extremities. He had a pair of black Nike running shoes that blended well with the dark color of his jeans. Tai also wore a black leather bikers jacket with the zipper going up the middle, with a gray t-shirt underneath that had a unique design at the front. Because of the design, Tai had left the jacket unzipped. Along with the clothes, Tai also had a decent watch strapped around his left wrist and a small chain around his neck.

Tai left the bedroom now dressed in his new clothes. He went to the closet and grabbed his Dark Jester outfit, mask and all. "Whoa, Tai where are you going?" Takato asked.

"What does it look like? I'm going back home." Tai said. "I've got family waiting for me, friends, and...Sora." The very mention of her name had him thinking back to her. He needed to go back, he had to see her again. "I need to go back home."

"Well, if you're that desperate." Takato got up from the couch. "I guess this is good-bye." Takato offered his hand. "It was great to meet you. And it was great to finally meet the Dark Jester face to face."

Tai smiled and shook his hand. "It was good to meet you too."

"Here, let me give you a bag." Takato went to the closet and grabbed a small backpack from the bottom and offer it to Tai. "So, you don't have to carry your costume around out in the open."

Tai took the bag and put the Dark Jester outfit inside, zipping it closed. "Thanks, Takato. I hope we see each other again. And maybe we can meet under different circumstances." Tai walked to the front door and opened it. He looked back to Takato one last time before leaving the apartment. Takato closed the door and locked it. Somehow, Takato had the feeling that this was definitely not going to be the last time they see each other.

By this time, it was now dark and Takato was sitting alone in his apartment watching TV. The program suddenly changed to a news report.

_"We interrupt this program to bring you a terrifying report."_

_The TV screen changed to a video of the front of a bank and several police cars around it. A news reporter stood in front of the camera._

_"We are standing just outside the National Bank just downtown." The reporter said. "There is a robbery taking place right inside. Police have reported that there are a total of eight shooters inside and over twenty hostages trapped inside." A sudden sound of gunfire erupted inside the bank._

Takato immediately stood up from sit seat. "Oh great." Takato turned off the TV and went to his room, where he had left his Blood Rose outfit and his Rose weapon. Eight shooters and more than twenty hostages; this was going to be a challenge for him. Finishing his outfit with his mask, Blood Rose looked out the window. The bank was pretty far, so simply teleporting there was not an option. The least he could do was teleport somewhere far from his apartment so no one would see him coming out of this balcony. Focusing on the distant alleyway down below, Blood Rose disappeared from his balcony and reappeared right at the alley.

* * *

Tai was on his way to the train station. He had previously stopped by there to find when the next train to Odaiba was leaving and after finding the time, he left to pass the time. While he was on his way to the station, he suddenly heard the sound of sirens. "Huh?" Tai saw two police cars rushing through the street with their sirens and lights blaring. "What was that about?" While he was walking by some people at a bus stop, he overheard a conversation.

"Did you hear what's happening at the bank?"

"Yeah, I have it on my ipod."

Tai stopped to see what this was about. Without any of them noticing, Tai leaned over looked at what was on the ipod screen.

_"We are standing just outside the National Bank just downtown." The reporter said. "There is a robbery taking place right inside. Police have reported that there are a total of eight shooters inside and over twenty hostages trapped inside." A sudden sound of gunfire erupted inside the bank._

Tai reacted with surprise. _A bank robbery?_ Tai looked at his watch; he couldn't just ignore a call for help, but if he went, he was going to miss his train. "God dammit." Tai ran in the direction of where the bank was. The sound of the sirens was enough help to locate where the bank was. He stopped right at the corner of the bank and saw that it was indeed a big issue. He backed away into the nearby alley, pulling his bag out and grabbing his costume.

Once he was clad in his Jester gear, Saji now stood at the roof of the building across the street from the bank. "Time to do some good once more."

* * *

**Well, that took a while to update.**

**Sorry it took so long to get this new chapter up, but...hey, its up. I hope you liked it.**

**Please be sure to review.  
**


	9. Nostalgia

**Well, let's have a chapter with some action. Since these two happen to be involved in stopping the same bank robbery, let's see how things play out.**

**In case some of you have not noticed, I changed the rating of this story from M to T, since this story isn't going to have that much graphic content.**

* * *

"Alright, I said stay down and SHUT UP!" One of the bank robbers began to fire rounds into the ceiling, earning several screams from the women and forcing them all to do as they were told. "Hurry up man! Get the money!"

"I'm on it!" The second one said. He held his gun towards the teller. "Hurry up with it." The waved the gun at her face while she filled a gym bag with the money she had.

From a dark corner at the back of the bank, Saji slowly appeared from the shadow. He walked over to the bodies of three security guards, kneeling down towards them all and putting a hand to their necks, one by one. "Hmm, no wounds, still alive. Perhaps they were knocked unconscious." Saji got back on his feet and continued to walk towards the main lobby of the bank.

One of the gunmen saw a woman getting up run for the door, but he grabbed her by the hair just in time. "Where do you think you're going? Huh?" He threw her down to the ground and pointed his shotgun to the back of her head. "You wanna live? DO YOU WANNA LIVE?"

"Yes!" The woman begged. "Yes, please, don't kill me." She brought her hands together, praying for mercy while she closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face.

He moved his gun away from the woman and then grabbed her by the hair again. "If you really wanna live, then beg for it." He threw her across the lobby, close to where Saji was standing. "BEG FOR IT!" As the woman was getting up, he slapped her with the back of his hand, knocking her down to the ground again. "Come on, I wanna hear you beg." He lifted his hand up to hit her again, but when it came close to her face, A gloved hand appeared and grabbed the swinging fist. "Huh?" He looked up and saw the masked clown face staring at him with the red crescent eyes.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

"What the fuck does that mean?" The gunman pointing his gun at Saji.

"Have some respect for the lady." Saji grabbed the barrel of the shotgun with his left hand and reached for his hat to grab the purple feather with his right. He then swiped the hands of the gunman with the feather cutting them. The gunman dropped his shotgun and backed away as Saji put the feather back on his hat.

The scream from their fellow member caught the attention of the other gunmen, who turned to see Saji standing there. "What the fuck?"

"I hope you are all ready." Saji said, "For I plan to take you somewhere away from here. Care to know where?" Despite getting no response, Saji answered regardless.

**"Criminal souls, take a trip through this road.**

**For you have broken the world's law, it's code.**

**You will all be sent here for what you have done.**

**Be best prepared boys, for this journey has come.**

**What am I?"**

"I am..." Saji slowly reached for one of his swords. "...your demise."

Suddenly, a bright red flash appeared right next to Saji. He looked away to not hurt his eyes, using his arm to help cover the light. From the flash, Blood Rose stood in its place with his rapier drawn. "Alright, that's far enough for you goons."

"What the fuck is going on here!" One of the gunmen shouted. "Where do these freaks come from?"

"Freaks? There's another?"

"I believe that he meant me." Saji said.

"The hell with this! Kill them both!" The gunmen raised their guns and aimed it at the two masked heroes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Blood Rose asked. "This is my heroic act." The two leaned back to dodge a bullet that was shot in their direction, still focusing on each other. "You find your own."

"This _is_ my own." Saji punched at the gunman that came running at the two. "And if I'm not mistaken, I was here before you were."

Blood Rose's rapier then reverted back to a rose. "This is _my_ city. We do things _my_ way." As more bullets came firing towards them, Blood Rose deflected them away with his telekinesis, keeping his eyes on Saji while his hands did the work. Some of them managed to strike and wound two of the gunmen. They weren't fatal, but harmful enough to incapacitate them. "And I thought you were leaving."

"I was." Saji answered. A bullet came in his direction, but Saji drew out one of his swords, strike the bullet and splitting it directly in half. The two halved missed Saji and hit the wall on the other side. "But then I found out about this and felt I needed to get involved." When one of the gunmen came charging at Saji once more, he slashed at his stomach with his sword, still having his attention on Blood Rose.

"Well, there is no need for you to get involved." Blood Rose said. "I can handle this all on my own." As two gunmen came running towards them, Blood Rose grabbed on of them with his telekinesis and slammed him directly at the other, knocking them out cold. "Just let me handle this on my own and you catch your train out of here."

Saji then threw his sword out and succeeded in striking down another one of the gunman. "May I at least help out?" He asked. "I have not done any heroic deeds in years, I just want the feeling again." He drew out his second sword to deflect a stray bullet.

Blood Rose sighed, with his head dropping. With his hand, he telekinetically flipped a table over, using it as a shield against more of the bullets and taking down the final gunmen. "Alright, I guess having help would be nice."

"Perfect." Tai smiled underneath the mask. "Let's do some good."

When the two finally broke their focus from each other and to the situation at hand, they were surprised to find the entire bank empty. All the gunmen were on the floor either unconscious or dead, the hostages were all out of the bank, and the police were on their way in. "What the..." Blood Rose looked around the bank. "Did somebody do our job?"

Saji walked over to the body of the gunmen that had his sword through the chest. "I believe we may have done this ourselves." He pressed his right foot on the body and pulled the sword out.

* * *

Police have now carried out the last of the criminals from the bank and into their patrol cars or body bags. Blood Rose and Saji stood outside of the bank with one of the police officers.

"Well I appreciate your help with this Blood Rose." The officer said. "But I'm still concerned about the condition this clown had put few of them."

Saji stood with his cape covering his overall body. Strangely, the condition of Saji's clothes had regained it's 'youth', all rips and blood stains had disappeared, looking new. "Well, I do apologize for my actions, but I assure you, I was only concerned for the safety of the innocent."

Blood Rose looked back to the officer after hearing Saji's answer. "There isn't gonna be a problem is there officer?"

"Well..." The police officer scratched his head. "Even if I actually wanted to, I know how you superheroes would react. Personally, I have no problem against you guys." He looked back to the rescued hostages from the bank. "And you two _did_ save lives. I'll let this slide because of that."

Blood Rose smiled in appreciation. "Thank you. We're just glad to be able to do some good for the people." He looked over to Saji. "We should be heading out, there might be more lives to save."

"I agree." Saji nodded. "Let's take off."

Blood Rose held onto Saji's shoulder and in a quick second, the two disappeared in a red flash, leaving the officer standing awed.

* * *

Back at the junkyard where Saji and Blood Rose had escaped the Dark Ocean from, a stray cat was wandering around looking for it's next meal. While searching around the junkyard, the cat began to slow down on its pace, until the cat was suddenly frozen in place. From the ground, a small dark pool began to seep out, expanding larger until it was roughly the size of a car tire. As the strange essence began to expand some more, a hand began to protrude from within. As the hand expanded further with a whole arm, the hand clenched into a fist as a face slowly emerged from the pool.

"..." A deep growl came from within. "...Kamiya..."

* * *

Blood Rose and Saji were now at the top of a high skyscraper. Saji stood while looking around the sky, slowing spinning around to admire the beauty of the night sky. Blood Rose at the edge of the tower, hanging his legs off the side. "I gotta say, that was one weird hero's time."

"At least the task was complete." Saji said. "Lives were saved, evil was eliminated, all's well that ends well. Saji then sat down by Blood Rose, looking over the city's night light. Saji then removed his mask to get a better look at the view. "This is a great view, you come up here often?"

"How can I not?" Takato removed his own mask. "This building was where I first had my superhero experience. I saved lives in this building." Takato looked back to that night; the fear and panic the terrorists caused, the pumping of the adrenaline throughout his body, and the feeling of success after stopping them. Something like that could never be forgotten so easily. "I'm nostalgic that way."

Tai then fell onto his back, keeping his feet hanging off the edge. "Well, you sure do have a good eye for a good view." Tai admired the stars above him as he stared up to the sky. It was so long since he looked at darkness and saw it so beautifully.

Takato, seeing how he was just so fixed on staring at the stars, decided to do the same. "I guess you really missed all this."

"Of course." Tai said. "It might've been only two years here, but it felt much longer."

Takato placed his rapier down next to him, letting it transform into it's Rose form. He then joined Tai in lying down under the sky. "So, what do you want to do now? Are you going to go home, or do you want to stay and give me a hand?"

"I dunno." Tai answered. "I guess a day or two wouldn't hurt."

"You're more than welcome to stay at my place." Takato offered, he then sat back up. "But you'll be sleeping on the sofa. And you're gonna have to ease up on the food."

"Fair enough.

"Good. It's not easy taking care of Rika and you on a librarian's salary."

Tai sat up to meet Takato at eye level. "I get it. But I think I have plenty to last me for a few days." Tai pulled out several bills of yen.

"Hey, where'd you get that?" Takato asked, surprised that Tai had money on him.

"Took it from the dead bodies."

"Tai!"

"What? It's not like they were gonna use it." Tai said, defending his actions. "And besides, it'll be much easier on you now that I don't have to mooch off you." Tai looked down to the streets below, looking at the people walking by and the cars. "I haven't had anything alcoholic for so long, I need some. You wanna join me?"

"I'm 18."

"So, that's a no?"

"What the hell do you think?" Takato asked. "Of course it means no."

"Fine, more for me." Tai put his mask back on and looked over to Takato. "Ta ta." He then fell over the edge, falling down to the streets below.

"Tai!" Takato looked down to Saji, but as he was getting closer to the ground, he suddenly disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Takato smiled and scoffed at it. "Magical asshole." Suddenly, his cellphone went off, playing a familiar ringtone. Takato pulled his phone out and answered it. "Hi Rika."

"I saw what happened on the news." Rika said on the other line. "Not bad."

"Thanks. But I get the feeling you're calling for something else."

"My mom and my grandma went out for the night. Can I come over?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be home in a few minutes." When Rika hung up, Takato put his phone away. He got up from the ledge and looked down, putting his mask back on and grabbing his rose. "Leap of faith." Takato stepped over the edge and descended down. Halfway through his descent, he disappeared in a sudden flash, teleporting back to his apartment. When he arrived at his apartment, he landed hard on the floor of his living room. "Ow..."

* * *

Tai sat alone at a bar with an empty shot glass in his hands. His Dark Jester gear was in his bag, hanging from his back. "One more." The bartender came by and poured him another shot of his alcohol.

"You want anything else?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Tai answered.

She smiled at him as she walked away to tend to others at the bar table. Tai glanced at her while she wasn't looking at him. He had to admit, after spending so long without a woman in sight, it was nice change to be able to see such a gorgeous one. But having his eyes on her kept his mind focusing on Sora. He missed her deeply, but he didn't even know if she still loved him. He quickly downed the shot and put the glass back on the table.

_"We interrupt this program with breaking news."_

Tai's attention turned to the TV at the corner of the bar table near him.

_"Another rescue was made by Odaiba's caped hero Vestige." The reporter said. "No footage was made due to the large smoke that was present at the scene, but the rescued citizens have been rescued and the perpetrator in custody."_

"Nicely done, Davis." Tai smiled to himself.

While he kept his attention on the TV, the bartender returned to him and took notice of his eyes on the news. "You a superhero fan too?" She looked back at the TV. "I haven't felt this safe before they showed up. Now I feel comfortable walking alone at night."

"I guess you should respect those guys for risking their lives to save ours." Tai said.

"I suppose." The bartender smiled.

* * *

Tai opened the door to Takato's apartment and closing the door quietly. Having been at the bar for a while now, he knew that Takato would probably be asleep by now. Perhaps taking a quick shower would help him before going to sleep. Tai removed his jacket and shirt, tossing it onto the sofa and entering the bathroom. As he opened the door, he suddenly received a blast of heat; someone had been showering earlier. When Tai walked further into the bathroom, he realized that this person hadn't left.

And unless Takato had breasts, there was a naked woman in here.

"AAHH!" Rika wrapped her feminine features with her towel.

"Holy crap!" Tai turned away to not look at her. "I'm sorry!"

"What the hell's going on?" Takato shouted as he got out of his bedroom.

"Takato! It's not what you think!" Tai said.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You just walk into a bathroom unannounced?" Rika asked, wrapping the towel around her.

"How was I supposed to know you'd be here?" Tai asked.

"Tai, just get out the bathroom." Takato grabbed Tai and pulled him out closed the door behind him. "That was not cool."

"It was an accident." Tai said. "I'm serious."

"Dude, _I_ haven't even seen her naked, and she's my girlfriend."

"You're not gonna kick me out because of this, are you?" Tai asked, looking concerned over the situation. "You kick me out, I'll sing right now."

"Oh, no you don't." Takato pointed a finger at him. "You sing, I'll staple your lips shut. Just go to sleep, I'm tired as hell."

"Can I at least shower?"

"Wait until Rika's out." Takato said as he went back to his room. "And no peeking."

"I wasn't peeking!" Tai shouted.

* * *

**And that is the end of that. I figured I needed to give Tai his comedic side. After being quite dark in the Dark Jester stories, I thought adding a little humor to the whole 'jester' bit would be good.**

**Let's get those reviews on the way, and I'll have the next chapter up in time.  
**


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